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WORLD PROBLEM DISCUSSION SERIES 

AMERICA'S STAKE IN 
EUROPE 

CHARLES HARVEY FAHS 




ASSOCIATION PRESS 

New York: 347 Madison Avbnub 
1921 






Copyright 192 r, by 

The International Committer of 

Young Men's Christian Associations 

Printed in the U. S. A. 



DEC22'ZI 

©GI.A680929 



PREFACE 

The second volume in the "World Problem Discussion Series," 
lere offered, has been prepared on the same general plan as 
'America's Stake in the Far East," and with the same methods of 
lse in view as in the case of the first book of the series. The hearty 
ind wide acceptance of the book on the Far East would seem to 
lemonstrate a felt need for this type of publication. 

These chapters of questions here offered were not intended to 
>e all-inclusive or too deeply penetrative into the complex tangle 
)f things. They are an attempt to provide helpful aid and stimulus 
o groups and individuals here and there who, perplexed and dis- 
urbed by the baffling European situation, feel hopeless in any 
ittempt to think into the question of what America can or ought to 
>e doing at this time. Yet America is facing and must make great 
lecisions, and these should be decisions for the people and, so far 
is may be, by the people. If democracy is to find its way to cor- 
>orate judgment about great international issues, any dispassion- 
ite attempt whatsoever to state the questions in ways that will help 
he lay mind to grasp them and to formulate worthy opinion with 
eference to their solution ought not to be without value. 

Certain limitations in the book must be recognized. In the 
irst place, the chapter subjects do not include by any means all 
he problems of American-European relationships. America's re- 
ationships to Scandinavia, to France and the other Latin nations, 
o the Balkans, to the new states of Central Europe, might have 
lad specific treatment. Yet to have done so would have made a 
>ook too elaborate and expensive and would have defeated the ends 
or which it was prepared. Moreover, within the scope of the 
haptens that are offered, the scholar and the expert will doubtless 
vish that more of the historical and technical questions bearing on 
iconomics and diplomacy and on national and international de- 
r elopment or retrogression had been called forth. The reference 
naterials offered in connection with each chapter are clearly in- 
.dequate both as to amount and as to content. It would require 
or each of certain of the chapters reference materials as voluminous 
:s the complete contents of this book, if these materials were to 
ie at all comprehensive. The reader may look in vain in the ref- 
rence materials for illuminative quotations concerning many of 
he questions raised. Yet within the necessary limits of space, it is 
toped that 'sufficient reference citations are offered to be of sub- 
tantial help to those who use the book. Most of the major issues 

iii 



iv PREFACE 

are touched upon, if not fully discussed from various angles, in 
the quotations offered. Many of the current periodicals, especially 
the weekly and monthly reviews and magazines, are rich with in- 
formation and opinion regarding these matters. 

A final limitation grows out of the fact of rapidly changing 
conditions and situations. No assurance is possible that many 
questions here raised will not speedily be matters of history only. 
Yet the attempt has been made to appraise the questions with 
reference to the probability that they will continue to be pertinent 
for some time to come, and to eliminate those which would seem to 
be of only passing significance. 

Given such limitations as those mentioned, it is clear that the 
book ought not to be evaluated other than with reference to its 
intended purpose — a contribution to the effectiveness and help- 
fulness of personal consideration and group discussions of certain 
outstanding questions in American-European relations. That it 
can make such a contribution is the confident hope of those who 
have shared in its preparation and publication. 

As in the case of "America's Stake in the Far East," the 
questions are based on rather extended research in books and cur- 
rent periodicals. The questions once formulated, the writer had 
the highly helpful collaboration of Mr. Harrison S. Elliott in 
choosing and arranging those most likely to be useful in the conduct 
of forums and discussion classes. Further aid was given, moreover, 
through the careful and penetrating criticism of Mr. Jay Urice, 
who had just returned from a six months' journey through twelve 
of the countries of Europe, in each of which he had opportunity 
for sensing those aspects of Europe's post-war life likely to be of 
the most significance for America. For the choice and abridgment 
of the reference materials the writer only is responsible. 

Charles Harvey Fahs. 
New York City, November i, 1921. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

'reface iii 

I. What is America's Present Stake in Europe? i 

II. Should America Reassert Her Former Isolation 

from European Affairs ? 3 

III. How Long Ought America to Share in European 

Relief ? 1 7 

IV. Should We Cancel Europe's War Indebtedness 

to Us? 35 

V. What Part Should America Take in Bringing 

About the Economic Recovery of Europe?.. 51 
VI. Are the European Loyalties of Our Cosmo- 
politan Population a Menace to America?.. 66 
VII. What Attitude Should Be Taken Toward Immi- 
gration from the Distressed Lands of 

Europe ? 80 

/"III. Of What Concern to Uncle Sam Are John Bull's 

Woes or Welfare ? 92 

IX. What Should Be the American Attitude Toward 

Germany ? 108 

X. What is the Bearing of Russia's Distress on 

America's Destiny? 123 

XI. Must America Help to Clean Up Europe and 

Europe's Dependencies? 137 

XII. Should America Seek to Influence European 

Colonial Policies? 152 

illl. How is the World Different Since the World 

War? 168 

XIV. What Can an American Do About It? 182 

Suggestions for the Chairman of the Discussion Group 

or Forum 184 

Bibliographical Note 186 



CHAPTER I 

WHAT IS AMERICA'S PRESENT STAKE 
IN EUROPE? 

Sources of Information Concerning Overseas Subjects 

i. Where do you get your information about Europe? How re- 
liable is it ? 

2. What books, magazines, and newspapers have you been 
reading? What help did each give you toward a better under- 
standing of the situation in Europe? 

3. What difference do you find the origin of a newspaper dis- 
patch may make in its reliability? How far does propaganda 
tend to color the news? 

4. What special correspondence do you feel is most reliable? 
What periodicals seem to have the most reliable information 
about conditions in Europe? 

5. What magazines and newspapers appear to be the most biased 
by the special parties, groups, or interests they respectively 
represent ? 

[. Reactions of the American Mind to Facts and Discussions 

1. In your newspaper reading of the last six months what Euro- 
pean questions do you recall as having been most featured in 
the headlines? 

2. What seem to be the major friction and distress points in 
Europe ? 

3. As you read the current periodicals, on what questions do you 
find them differing most as to the part America should take in 
European affairs? 

4. On these questions on which there is such a difference of 
opinion, Americans must take some attitude. List these ques- 
tions in the order of their importance, as you estimate their 
significance. 

5. Is the average American interested in these questions ? Why ? 
Why not? Why, if at all? Ought he to be interested more 
than he is? By what process can he be made to be more truly 
and intelligently interested? 

I 



AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

6. How is the average American to come to some trustworthy 
judgment on these large questions and on ways of solving 
them ? 

7. Just how important do you feel it to be that trustworthy in- 
dividual and social judgment on these questions should be 
arrived at in a democracy? Why? Shall we leave these ques- 
tions to the experts in Congress and in the President's Cabinet 
or is an informed and disciplined public opinion desirable and 
essential? What are the reasons for your opinion? 

8. What part does free discussion of the essential problems in 
American foreign relations and policy play in the formation of 
public opinion? What part should it play? 



CHAPTER II 

SHOULD AMERICA REASSERT HER FORMER 
ISOLATION FROM EUROPEAN AFFAIRS? 

I. The Issue Facing America 

1. Why do many Americans wish the Nation to return to a 
policy of isolation from European affairs? From just what 
would America desire to protect herself by reasserting this 
isolation ? 

2. Are the American people desirous of avoiding international 
responsibilities? If so, why? 

3. What evidence is there that America has experienced a re- 
vulsion of feeling toward European affairs ; what evidence 
that she is still willing to take her part in international coopera- 
tive enterprises? Is international cooperation possible without 
an accompanying possibility of the development of international 
political complications ? 

4. What considerations lead many people to feel that the main- 
tenance of her traditional isolation, if possible, would best 
enable America to fulfill her mission to the world? What do 
you think as to this point of view? 

5. Should America attempt to reassert her former "splendid 
isolation' from European affairs ? 

II. Considerations Bearing Upon America's Answer 

A. The Historical Basis for America's Traditional Policy of 
Isolation 

1. On what grounds did Washington urge aloofness from Euro- 
pean affairs on the part of the new Republic ? To what extent 
are these reasons valid today ? 

2. To what extent did the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine 
imply that America would not take part in European affairs? 
What considerations led to the declaration of this policy? To 
what extent do these considerations still hold? 

3. Just what has isolation meant in the past ? What was the first 
great break in America's traditional situation with respect to 
world affairs? 



4 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

4. Did the entrance into the world war mark a sudden change 
of policy or had America been gradually, and perhaps uncon- 
sciously, shifting from the policy of isolation from European 
affairs before the beginning of the World War? On what 
evidence do you base your answer? 

B. The Possibility of Maintaining an Isolated Position in 
the World 

1. What does America need for her well being that she does not 
have within her own borders or can not obtain in the Western 
Hemisphere ? 

2. Do America's chief political problems at present have to do 
with foreign affairs? Give reasons for your opinion. 

3. How, if at all, is the United States concerned with the indus- 
trial situation in Europe and in other parts of the world ? What 
bearing does the industrial situation in any nation have on 
politics ? 

4. What bearing do the European interests of our immigrant 
population have upon America's isolation from Europe? Can 
we deal adequately with the immigration problem apart from 
vital contacts with European governments? 

5. What change has the war brought with respect to America's 
financial position among the world powers? Do Europe's 
economic ties with America seem to you to lessen or to increase 
the difficulties incident to any attempts on the part of America 
to maintain an isolated national life? Why? 

6. Just how much of a protection from the distresses and tu- 
mults of Europe do you feel the Atlantic ocean is for us ? Have 
modern conditions of communication and transportation, as 
some claim, broken down the effectiveness of the Atlantic as an 
"estranging sea"? 

7. Do you feel that the great war with its resultant settlements 
has increased or decreased the probability that America may 
again be drawn into war because of European difficulties ? 

8. What elements in the present situation make isolation pos- 
sible, what seem to make it impossible? Upon the whole, do 
you feel that America can or can not maintain an isolated 
position with respect to European affairs in the sense that all 
"entangling alliances" can be avoided? 

C. A Policy of Isolation — Honorable or Dishonorable? 
1. What obligation, if any, is upon America to "carry on" in 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE 5 

seeking to achieve the aims of the war after having helped to 
bring the war to a conclusion ? 

z. What does Europe really need that we have or could give? 
How necessary are these to her ? 

3. Some say that America has thus far side-stepped her moral 
responsibilities in respect to the situation. Does there seem to 
you to be an ethical lack in America's attitude toward inter- 
national affairs? 

\. Should we in the United States look after our own industrial 
affairs and pay little attention to what is happening in other 
nations, or are we obligated to join with other civilized nations 
in an attempt to solve the larger industrial questions internation- 
ally ? What bearings do the international contacts and relation- 
ships of labor organizations have on this question? 

5. How can America make the greatest contribution to world 
life : by working out her own democratic ideals so far as pos- 
sible apart from world contacts, or by taking a place of ag- 
gressive leadership in the family of nations? 

5. Does it seem to you possible for us to take an active and 
effective part in the reconstructive processes in Europe and 
still keep our national birthright of independence with respect 
to political action? Why or why not? 

7. What considerations should guide America in determining 
the degree of leadership she should take in seeking to better 
conditions among the war-stricken peoples overseas? 

III. America's Answer to the Question of Isolation 

1. If war is to be prevented in the future, can America best help 
to this end by seeking to isolate herself so far as possible, or 
by entering as fully as possible into international life and af- 
fairs? Why? 

2. Should America utilize her unparalleled economic situation 
as a leverage against war-making processes? If so, how can 
this best be done? 

3. Should we insist on the ''open door" in trade everywhere? 
Should we make good that insistence where necessary by force 
of arms? How offset the danger that the part we take will 
be determined by the urge of our ambitious commercial classes 
and not out of a genuine desire to provide equal opportunity 
in commerce for all nations? 

4. Ought America under any circumstances to assume responsi- 



6 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

bilitieS for newly freed nationalities of Europe which may 
need protection against the aggression of selfish neighbors or 
cooperation in organizing their economic and political life? 
Under what circumstances and with what acceptance of respon- 
sibilities should it be done? 

5. Which is the more important for the future of America and 
of the world : 

a. The further development of American life and ideals as 
those of a self-sufficient national and social entity, perhaps 
inspiring and even extraordinarily helpful to the rest of the 
world, but so far as possible separated from it ; or, 

b. The full participation of America in world problems and 
activities and in the international outreachings toward a 
larger world life, even losing its own life in some measure 
on behalf of the larger social whole? 

6. What things arc" we now doing as a nation which seem to you 
in the direction of assuming a permanent relation to European 
affairs? Should this tendency be hastened? If so, what in 
your judgment are the next steps to be taken? 

7. Just what is possible in evoking an intelligent public opinion 
on America's relationships to Europe? 

8. If there is a real summons to a world task, how can the 
national sense of that fact be stimulated, the growth of self 
consciousness as to national mission and destiny be hastened? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

The Case for Isolation 
Political, Economic, and Defensive Self-Containedness 

A stronger case could be made for the political and economic isola- 
tion of America than for that of any other country, partly because 
. . . she has within her political domain all the resources of national 
well-being; partly, also, because it is of supreme importance that the 
great experiment oi democracy should not he unduly hampered by ex- 
cessive inpourings of ill-assimilable foreign blood, and by dangerous 
contacts with obsolete or inapplicable European institutions. ... A 
reasoned argument could be addressed to prove that the economy of 
national security and progress for this country lay along the lines of 
political, economic and defensive self-eontainedness. . . . Many must be 
led to support this policy, not on grounds of seliishness. because they 
desire to conserve for America alone her great opportunities, and not 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE 7 

mainly from fear, lest America should be embroiled again in the dan- 
gerous quarrels of distant European nations, but because they are ani- 
mated by that pure desire, which has animated so many generations of 
high-minded Americans, that American democracy should grow to its 
full stature by its own unaided efforts and save the world by its example. 
— J. A. Hobson, "The Morals of Economic Internationalism," pp. 28-30. 

Thinking in Terms of America 

If we are to be drawn into all the intrigues and broils of the rest 
of the world our own home problems must go unsolved. Let us attend 
to our own business for a while, and insist that the rest of the world 
attend to theirs. . . . 

Let us think for a while in terms of America — wrongs are here to 
be righted — let us right them; problems are crying for solution, let us 
solve them. Let us promote, so far as we can, peace and the general 
welfare of the world, but let us think of America first and prosper Amer- 
ica first and above all promote the peace and welfare of our own people 
at home. This republic has cost too much in blood and treasure to 
permit it to go down in a red sea of horror, wrecked on the rocks of 
Bolshevism and anarchy. — Senator Frank Willis, of Ohio, address at 
Madison Square Garden, New York City, March 18, 1921. 

America's Distrust of Europe 

Two million odd Americans saw Europe in the years 1917-1919, 
and very few will ever forget what they saw. Bloodshed, racial hatred, 
animosities that had their roots back behind Genghiz Khan and Julius 
Caesar, dynastic pride, secret diplomacy, religious bigotry, and a passion 
for self-determination which, once aroused, did not stop with races or 
peoples but raged in towns and hamlets until it almost seemed that there 
could not be a sizable village without an army, a navy, and goodness 
knew how many cabinet ministers, all praying for American assistance 
in the noble task of extirpating their next-door neighbors, the ex-cabinet 
ministers, and their other next-door neighbors — those-who-might-possi- 
bly-aspire-some-day-to-become cabinet ministers. The economic back- 
ground was hunger and pestilence and Bolshevistic horror, class hate 
or race hate, abetted by religious hate, fanned by politicians and 
"patriots" and every hamlet crying out, "When will America come to set 
us free?" 

It was not a lovely spectacle. It was a very disillusioning spectacle. 
Small wonder that men came back and cried out, "America to herself. 
Let Europe stew in the poisonous juices of her own passions. Let us 
keep America clean and unpolluted for our children. Let us remember 
Washington and Monroe and reject the League of Nations along with 
every other insidious attempt to embroil us in the selfishness of European 
diplomacy." 



8 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Natural conservatism and the lack of a trained personnel fitted for 
the exacting work of colonial or imperial administration are conditions 
which might after a considerable period be overcome. They are matters 
of purely domestic concern. More important for Europe to understand 
is the American's distrust of Europe, bred in him by a study of her end- 
less succession of racial, religious and dynastic controversies, and forti- 
fied by his experience of the war of which Germany was the architect 
but for which all the nations of Europe undeniably furnished the ma- 
terials and tools. This quality of American distrust may in the last 
analysis be a form of self-righteousness. But for better or worse, noble 
or ignoble, the trait exists. 

On being invited to participate in European questions the American 
feels that he is being asked to take a hand in a game with players who, 
if they are not unscrupulous, are at least so much more astute and experi- 
enced than he that he is sure to lose. Excessive modesty is not commonly 
believed in Europe to be the besetting sin of Americans. In com- 
mercial matters they do not fear European competition or rivalries. 
But in statecraft, the American is afraid the wily European and the 
even more wily Oriental is going to "slip something over on him." The 
Peace Conference has emphasised this feeling. ... In the matter of 
mandates, America cannot help remarking that the mandates she was 
urged to assume were in localities where she could not profit and where 
she must of necessity spend large sums of money. Armenia was eagerly 
pressed upon us as a suitable field for a display of America's administra- 
tive talents. We were not urged to take the mandate of Syria or Meso- 
potamia. Both of those countries may become sources of profit to their 
mandatories. Syria has the ports of the rich hinterland of Asia Minor, 
Mesopotamia has oil, Armenia has massacres and starvation ! 

This distrust has been at the bottom of America's refusal to ratify 
the Treaty of Versailles and accept her share of the varied burdens of 
world administration. The elimination of this distrust is the task for the 
next generation of European statesmen if for the good of mankind they 
genuinely desire American cooperation. . . . The obstacles are by no 
means insuperable. On the contrary time and honesty will win the most 
sceptical, but cynicism and corruption will only drive America into a 
deeper and deeper isolation. — Round Table, June, 1921, pp. 566-568. 

The Question of Entangling Alliances 

America's Traditional Policy of Isolation 

It may be questioned whether the word "isolation" ever correctly 
described the foreign policy of the United States. From its very begin- 
ning it either voluntarily entered into, or was involuntarily drawn into, 
many world-problems. Its so-called "policy of isolation" consisted 
largely in its disinclination, to use Washington's words, to "implicate 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE 9 

itself by artificial ties in the ordinary" — meaning thereby the local — 
concerns of European politics. In its early days of weakness it did not 
desire to become the shuttlecock of European politics. Of that it had had 
bitter experience in the colonial wars which preceded the foundation of 
the American Republic. It did not object to alliances so much as to 
"entangling alliances," and by this oft-quoted expression it meant such 
contractual obligations by treaty alliances as would impair its freedom 
of action in future crises or contingencies. 

Assuming that "isolation" does truly define the past policy of 
America ; yet, from the time of the Spanish-American War, when, in 
another Treaty of Paris, the United States voluntarily assumed respon- 
sibilities in the far Orient, the policy of isolation was definitely aban- 
doned. . . . 

I agree that the United States, as a master-state of the world, has 
world-wide obligations from which it cannot escape without moral 
suicide. That America will play a great part in the future destinies of 
civilization, I do not doubt; but it will play a greater and more beneficent 
part if it does not dissipate its moral influence and impair its disinter- 
ested character as a great and friendly arbiter by intermeddling in the 
local concerns of Europe. As President Monroe's Secretary of State 
said just a century ago . . .: "// may be observed that for the repose 
of Europe as well as of America, the European and American political 
systems should be kept as separate and distinct from each other as 
possible." — James M. Beck, Fortnightly Reviezv, April, 1920, pp. 529, 530. 

Linked to the Vicissitudes of Our Neighbors 

We have inclined to think that the rest of the world was the sport 
of destiny, but that we, somehow, were insured against fate. If we are 
pinched enough and worried enough to make us feel that, in spite of 
isolation and riches and the position for the moment of being the great 
creditor nation of the world, we are still inseparably joined to the rest 
of mankind, and linked, willy-nilly, to the vicissitudes of our neighbors, 
it may bring us to a bolder spirit about joining with them to make the 
world safer and more salubrious for all hands. To be so fortunate that 
we dare not be neighborly for fear of catching something harmful or 
losing something valuable is to be not really in a strong position, but in 
a weak one. — E. S. Martin, Harper's Monthly Magazine, January, 1921, 
p. 264. 

The Possibility of American Isolation 
Varied and Wonderful Resources 

The Americans have much justification in calling their great land 
"God's own country." Providence has been exceedingly kind to them. 
It has concentrated the most varied and the most wonderful resources 
within the boundaries of the Great Republic, and its citizens have 



io AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

turned the great gifts of Nature into wealth with energy ami with wis- 
dom. The United Stales possess halt the world's eoal and halt the 
world's iron ore, the two minerals which form the twin basis oi modern 
industry. Their water powers are so gigantic that a tithe would suf- 
fice to electrify all their machinery and all their railways. In its huge 
rivers and in its extraordinary chain of lakes the Republic possesses the 
most wonderful system of inland waterways in the world. To complete 
their lines of communication, the Americans have opened up their 
country by means of a vast railway system, the mileage of which is 
almost twice as great as that of the British Empire. 

The American Republic extends through a variety of climes. Its 
plains and valleys yield enormous crops, and its mountains vast quan- 
tities of timber. Among the nations of the world the United States are 
by far the largest producers of coal, iron ore. copper, silver, petroleum. 
cotton, maize, wheat, oats, tobacco, etc. The American climate is 
extremely stimulating. American energy is largely due to the tonic 
properties of the air. Owing to the great wealth of their natural re- 
sources, and the boundless energy of the inhabitants, the United States, 
which only a few years ago were chiefly an agricultural country, have 
become by far the greatest industrial community in the world, and they 
wish to become the greatest commercial and seafaring nation as well. 
They produce more eoal. more iron, more steel, more machinery, and 
infinitely more motor cars than all the other States of the world com- 
bined, and they are by far the largest producers in the world of leather, 
boots, silks, furniture, and of other manufactured goods too numerous 
to mention. The United States have vast advantages over all the other 
countries of the world. Within a compact area they have boundless 
resources, the exploitation oi which has only begun, and the American 
race possesses at the same time the enthusiasm and the energy of youth 
and that sober ripeness of judgment which is usually found only in 
older nations. Men oi such a character and possessed of such resources 
are apt to go far. — Politicus, Fortnightly Review, December, 1920, 
pp.931, 03 j. 

Understanding Post-war Developments in Europe 

let no American feel that he can escape all relationship to post- 
war developments in Europe. That is impossible, and being impossible, 
we should at least aim to understand those developments sufficiently to 
recognize something of their significance to us and judge of our respon- 
sibilities to the outside world. The future of Europe is going to be 
largely shaped by the wisdom or the lack of wisdom that we in America 
show in our grasp of European affairs, in the way we seize our world 
opportunities and in the sincerity with which we discharge our world 
obligations and render service where service is due. If we are narrow, 
provincial, selfish, all those qualities will react on our own future. If 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE n 

we are wise, broad and generous with our help, our recompense will he 
beyond measure. — Frank A. Vanderlip, "What Happened to Europe," 
pp. '72, i73- 
Water-tight Compartments and the War 

We cannot longer he confined in isolated, water-tight compart- 
ments of selfish nationalism. Four years of war brought the whole 
world together in a common cause as previous centuries had failed to 
do. Forty millions of young men were drawn together from the cities, 
towns, and villages of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. They tra- 
versed new lands and seas, new continents of thought and experience ; 
they exchanged new ideas. They fought together in France, Italy, 
Russia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, and East Africa. Many entered 
as boys who returned as men ; they left home as provincials, to return 
with a cosmopolitan consciousness of Everybody's World. 

The world not only fought together in a common cause ; for the first 
time it thought together and acted together. The resources of the earth 
were made common property, the harvests of agriculture, the products 
of industry, shipping and railways, coal and iron, were all found to 
belong to Everybody's World. Masses of men learned the value of 
social control. The individual had to recognize humanity; nationalism 
had to break its shell and emerge into a world of internationalism. — 
Sherwood Eddy, "Everybody's World," pp. 20-21. 

The Hermitary Seclusion of America Impossible 

I assert that the system of international relations under which we 
and our fathers have lived has broken down; that its collapse was due 
to the change of economic, commercial, financial, social and political 
conditions in the modern world ; that any attempt to reestablish it will 
be rendered nugatory by the continued existence of these conditions; 
that the sound instinct of the plain people of the world in all nations 
yearns and clamors for a new and better world-order ; and that if this 
instinct is disregarded and overridden by statesmen the gravest conse- 
quences are certain to ensue. 

The world cannot go back to the 19th century system of a European 
balance of power and the hermitary seclusion of America. How can 
the balance of power be reestablished in Europe when Germany has 
been vanquished and when Russia, and Austria-Hungary, and Turkey 
have been disintegrated and resolved into their constituent parts and 
replaced by numerous independent nationalities? And how can America 
resume her ancient isolation after the war in which it has been demon- 
strated that, owing to new methods and means and instrumentalities of 
warfare, on land and sea and in the air, no great nation can probably ever 
again remain neutral but must, in defense of its interests and security 
and for the maintenance of law and justice, be inevitably drawn into 



12 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

the conflict whenever two or more great nations of the modern world 
resort to the dread arbitrament of war? — Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, 
Forum, March, 1920, p. 320. 

Ties That Bind 

The world is strangely knit together to-day by rapid transportation 
and communication and by the frontier-crossing agencies of credit, 
contract, capital, and corporate organization. There is hardly a single 
national problem, political or economic, that does not have its inter- 
national implications. Just now we are in great danger of ignoring this 
cardinal principle of modern politics and present-day economics. 

On every hand there are bankrupt and peevishly partizan minds 
counseling us to sit tight as the resolute defenders of a hermit American- 
ism. One can only pity these strangely sundered persons whose bodies 
live in the twentieth century, their minds in the sixteenth. They seem 
to think that nations are isolated compartments, with the laws of cause 
and effect operating within their sealed frontiers. But in the modern 
world the laws of cause and effect are inter-state laws. . . . We are still 
shut up to an inexorable choice between these two alternatives: we 
must become either the plaything of world forces or a partner in their 
control. A policy of isolation is as dead as the dodo. 

No sane man wants America to underwrite an unstable and inflam- 
mable Europe. . . . The one thing we must realize is that we cannot 
formulate our international policy without venturing outside the easy 
radius of the parish pump. No man can think intelligently in national 
terms to-day without thinking in world terms. — Glenn Frank, Century 
Magazine, June, 1920, p. 210. 

A Policy of Isolation — Honorable or Dishonorable? 

Facing National Responsibilities 

America owes it to herself, as one of the great civilized and civiliz- 
ing Powers of the world, to face her moral responsibilities in relation to 
vast world-problems. Your countrymen may regard the tradition of 
"non-intervention" as purely a domestic question with which no other 
nation or people has any right to intermeddle. They must bear with me 
if, with profound deference, I venture to dissent. The United States of 
America cannot shake herself free from moral responsibility and its im- 
plications by giving to the question at issue this narrower interpretation. 
Just as no individual in civilized society can live to himself, however 
much he might desire to do so, so no State can live to itself in the comity 
of nations. The law of action and reaction is ceaselessly at work, and 
is it not a species of moral cowardice to try to evade the natural conse- 
quences of the operations of natural laws? In short, do not America's 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE 13 

status and growing influence in the world make this merely "domestic" 
aspect of the question an impossihle one? 

This apparent unreadiness on the part of the United States of 
America to bear her fair share of the "White Man's Burden" comes to 
us as a painful disappointment after our hopes had been kindled by her 
whole-hearted intervention in the war. — D. Henry Rees, Fortnightly Re- 
view, April, 1920, p. 520. 

Serving Europe Through Guarding National Self-interests 

Europe is a very old Europe. Its psychology is different from our 
psychology; its people are the inheritors not only of an ancient and 
rich civilization and a fine tradition but of rivalries and hatreds which 
are almost immemorial, which are bone of the bone and blood of the 
blood of the people. We have a community of interest with Europe 
but not an identity of interest. It is in serving herself and guarding her 
own interests that America will best save Europe from herself. — Hon. 
Medill McCormick, Annals of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science, July, 1921, p. 169. 

People of Destiny 

To some extent, and I think in an increasing way, the old su- 
premacy which Europe had is passing westward. Europe is stricken, 
tired, and poor. America is hearty, healthy, and rich. Intellectually, 
it is still boyish and young and raw. There is the wisdom as well as the 
sadness of old age in Europe. We have more subtlety of brain, more 
delicate sense of art, a literature more expressive of the complicated 
emotions which belong to an old heritage of civilization, luxury, and 
philosophy. But I look for a Golden Age of literature and art in Amer- 
ica which shall be like our Elizabethan period, fresh and springlike, and 
rich in vitality and promise. I am bound to believe that out of the 
fusion of races in America, and out of their present period of wealth 
and power, and out of this new awakening to the problems of life out- 
side their own country, there will come great minds, and artists, and 
leaders of thought, surpassing any that have yet revealed themselves. 
All our reading of history points to that revolution. The flowering time 
of America seems due to arrive, after its growing-pains. 

Be that as it may, it is clear, at least, that the destiny of the Ameri- j 
can people is now marked out for the great mission of leading the world 
to a new phase of civilization. By the wealth they have, and by their 
power for good or evil, they have a controlling influence in the reshap- 
ing of the world after its convulsions. They cannot escape from that 
power, even though they shrink from its responsibility. Their weight 
thrown one way or the other will turn the scale of all the balance of 
the world's desires. People of destiny, they have the choice of arrang- 
ing the fate of many peoples. By their action they may plunge the 



i 4 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

world into strife again or settle its peace. They may kill or cure. They 
may be reconcilers or destroyers. They may be kind or cruel. It is a 
terrific power for any people to hold. If I were a citizen of the United 
States I should be afraid — afraid lest my country should by passion, or 
by ignorance, or by sheer carelessness, take the wrong way. 

I think some Americans have that fear. I have met some who are 
anxious and distressed. But I think that the majority of Americans do 
not realize the power that has come to them, nor their new place in the 
world. They have a boisterous sense of importance and prestige, but 
rather as a young college man is aware of his lustiness and vitality 
without considering the duties and the dangers that have come to him 
with manhood. They are inclined to a false humility, saying: "We aren't 
our brothers' keepers, anyway. We needn't go fussing around. Let's 
keep to our own job and let the other people settle their own affairs." 
But meanwhile the other people know that American policy, American 
decisions, the American attitude in world problems, will either make or 
mar them. It is essential for the safety of the world, and of civilization 
itself, that the United States should realize their responsibilities, and 
fulfill the destiny that has come to them by the evolution of history. To 
those whom I call the People of Destiny I humbly write the words, "Let 
the world have Peace." — Philip Gibbs, Harper's Magazine, June, 1920, 
pp. 10, 11. 

America's Answer to the Question of Isolation 

One of the Trustees of Civilization 

Those who would have us maintain a "splendid isolation" overlook 
one of the noblest attributes of man, which is also one of the outstanding 
traits of the American character. I mean gratitude. The world, indeed, 
needs many things which America alone can give it. But does not 
America owe that same world a debt of gratitude for most of its own 
inheritance? Whence came our boasted liberties, but from our British 
ancestors who won for us the Magna Charta and the writ of habeas 
corpus? Where did we get the glorious ideal of the equality of men, 
which was the inspiration of our Revolution, but from the French, whose 
philosopher Rousseau first dreamed it? History tells our debt, in that 
great struggle, not only to the flaming Lafayette, but also the Polish 
patriot Kosciuszko, and to the German drill-master Steuben, who lent 
their swords to us. 

Think of our debt to the Old World in the arts. The architecture of 
the Washington Monument is borrowed from Egypt; the beautiful 
Lincoln Memorial, by which we express our reverence for the Great 
Emancipator, came from Greece; the Capitol at Washington, the symbol 
of our free institutions, reveals our debt to Rome. Our operas come 
from Italy and Germany and France; the songs we sing our children 



REASSERTING ISOLATION FROM EUROPE 15 

to sleep with come from the British Isles. Shakespeare moulded the 
very tongue in which we speak ; and our most profitable inner processes 
of thought and reason follow rules laid down by Plato, Aristotle, Kant, 
Hegel, Bacon. Gutenberg gave us the printing press, a Scotchman gave 
us steam, a Swede dynamite, a Chinaman the compass, a Jew the pre- 
vailing religion. Certainly, as Tennyson sang, America is "the heir of 
all the ages, in the foremost files of time." 

Surely we cannot be indifferent to the distress of our kinsmen over- 
seas. I have seen them in their sorrows born of the late war. Children 
hungry, women borne down with anxiety and grief, men gaunt and 
desperate for remunerative work. All look to us for aid — not merely the 
aid of money, food, and the materials of labor, but more for the spiritual 
energy to renew the processes of life. . . . 

In determining our course of action our gratitude to our brethren 
in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the descendants of the peoples who gave 
us all we have, should be supplemented by our own deep sense of duty 
as one of the present Trustees of Civilization, and by our deep considera- 
tion and love for our own future generations. We must bequeath to 
them a broadened horizon, a spirit of tolerance, a reputation for Samari- 
tanism — and of Crusaders — a reputation that, when our test came, we 
not only were not found wanting but also did our full duty — voluntarily 
and not under compulsion. 

So looking both backward and forward it is our task to assist as 
effectively as we can in a sane, evolutionary reconstruction of the war- 
stricken peoples. — Henry Morgenthau, World's Work, January, 1921, 
pp. 236, 237. 

Building a New World 

I have been studying in a rapid and exhausting way, but with extra- 
ordinary opportunities of knowledge, the most important question in the 
whole world, upon which the future of civilization, and especially of our 
European life, largely depends. It is the question of what the United 
States of America will do under the new leadership which has come to 
her with Mr. Harding, and what part her people will play in international 
policy. 

Whether we like it or not it is certain that America has in her hands 
the great decision as to whether white civilization in Europe as we know 
it, and as most of us like it, will progress in an orderly way to a higher 
plane of development in peaceful industry, with a little more comfort for 
plain folk, with a good margin for the little things of art and beauty 
which make up the joy of life, greater security against the menace of 
war, and a relief from the deadening weight of armaments, or whether 
it will fall, as some European nations have already fallen, into decay and 
disease, poverty stricken, underfed, staggering and fainting through a 
jungle darkness. 



16 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

If America withdraws into herself, holding herself aloof from the 
world problems, demanding full payment of her loans, refusing extension 
of credit, and hardening into antagonism against the Allies in the war, 
it will be impossible, I am sure, to heal the wounds of Europe. We can- 
not do without American grain, fats, raw material and manufactured 
goods. Who thinks so is a fool, without any knowledge of world con- 
ditions. More than that, Europe needs the moral support and 'judgment 
and friendliness of the United States. The League of Nations is at pres- 
ent, in spite of the good efforts of many good men, utterly impotent to 
deal with the vital problems of world peace and health, or to enforce its 
decisions upon conflicting nationalities, interests, and rivalries, so long as 
the most powerful nation in the world today stays outside the family 
council. That is as clear as sunlight to a thinking mind. On the other 
hand, the entry of the United States into a league of peoples, or at least 
a world council called to consider the way of recovery and a rebuilding 
of international relations, would make real what is now unreal, and give 
immense strength to any common agreement. America could impose her 
will and her ideals, have the support of the peoples, even against the 
desire of their Governments. She could support her will by strong 
argument, because we are all so deeply in her debt, and in the future 
will need, desperately, her surplus food supplies, on easy terms. 

Do not let us forget also that the United States of America, being 
made up of human beings, might be more than aloof and disinterested in 
the welfare of Europe, which is bad enough because it checks the chance 
of quick recovery. Her people might become unfriendly, hostile — 
swept by passion, if we played the fool with them, nagged them beyond 
patience, by a series of blunders, the stupidities of statesmen, the tit for 
tat game in the Press. She can take a clear choice between the part of 
destroyer and the part of builder. In a little while she could raise the 
greatest army in the world, in a little while she will have the biggest navy. 
She could destroy the last chance of civilized progress in Europe, and 
having done that would be herself destroyed. But that choice is hers if 
she likes to take it, and the power is hers. 

She can choose, as I believe she will, the part of Builder. It is her 
national quality. Her people are builders and not destroyers. They 
have already built a great New World, splendid and strong in spite of 
evil elements. Under her new leadership she could help to build another 
New World, better than her own, ours as well as hers, that New World 
to which we all look forward with the coming of youth. Will she do that? 
In what way will she help in reconstruction and the new building in the 
ruins that were made? — Sir Philip Gibbs, Rcviczu of Reviews, (English 
Edition), March, 1921, pp. 169, 170. 



CHAPTER III 

HOW LONG OUGHT AMERICA TO SHARE IN 
EUROPEAN RELIEF? 

I. America's Concern for the Distress In Europe 

1. At what points in Europe has there been the greatest distress 
and danger of starvation? 

2. Why so long after the close of the war is the food supply of 
Europe so low? What is the matter with Europe? 

3. Why has there been so much of physical distress and even of 
starvation following the war? How much of this distress has 
been an inevitable result of the destructive processes of the 
war; how much has been due to the way the Treaty making 
processes were handled ; how much to the retaliative measures 
and trade restrictions enforced by the victors toward the van- 
quished ? 

4. What claim has Europe on America for free food supplies? 
How long is this claim likely to remain valid? 

II. Considerations Bearing on America's Continuation of Euro- 

pean Relief. 

A. What America Has Done 

1. What relief has America given Europe? What agencies 
have been at work? What have been their methods? 

2. How does America's response compare with that of other na- 
tions? Has America hardened her heart against needy 
Europe? What is the basis of your judgment? 

3. What conditions has America laid down? Has she found 
free feeding wise? 

B. The Outlook for the Future 

1. According to the most reliable estimates, what is the present 
extent of starvation and distress? Why does the need for re- 
lief continue? Are we giving charity in a way to perpetuate 
the need for charity? 

2. Why can not the European nations and peoples be self-sus- 
taining with respect to food supply? If the European nations 

17 



18 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

must in large part buy food with manufactures, what would 
this argue with respect to the necessity for easy and prompt 
communications between the nations? Would the present tem- 
per of these people make for such relationships? 

3. With approximately enough food in the world to go around 
why is it so difficult to get food to the peoples who need it most ? 

4. To what extent should new physical distresses constitute a 
new claim? 

C. Principles Applicable to Relief Work 

1. Ought America to feed Europe gratuitously? Will continued 
gifts of food and other supplies tend to stiffen the determination 
of European peoples to achieve self help or tend to produce 
habitual dependence on outside aid? Should the United States 
apply the same principles and methods to charity in Europe 
which are applied to charity towards individuals at home? 

2. If American relief work in Central and Eastern Europe is 
rendered more difficult at every step by artificial barriers erected 
by each national group against all international contacts and 
communications, does or does not that fact lessen our obliga- 
tions to feed the starving and to relieve the distressed ? Should 
relief enterprises be conditioned on an effective cooperation of 
the governments concerned? 

3. Of what value, if any, is relief work, if there can be developed 
in the stricken nations no positive constructive policies looking 
towards the reestablishment in each case of economic life and 
activity ? 

4. Ought relief to be granted primarily to particular classes, 
such as children and mothers with young children? If these 
only are to be saved, will it not necessitate continued outside 
help for long periods? 

5. Ought relief to be granted on the basis of undeniable need, 
or allocated according to probability of particular nations or 
regions again becoming self-sustaining as already evidenced 
by efforts toward production ? Ought relief be withheld from 
regions in which there seems little hope of bettering conditions 
in general? 

6. Should the relief enterprises be conditioned on the adoption 
of a government policy in the nation helped which shall be in 
accordance with the best economic ideals of other parts of 
Europe ? 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 19 

D. Relief for Student Groups 

1. Ought special consideration in relief work be given to groups 
having exceptional promise of leadership in the future of the 
needy nations, such as the student class? Of two persons 
equally in need, is there moral justification in our choosing 
to aid the one who seems to us likely hereafter to be of largest 
usefulness to society? 

2. With whole nations in need, should we aid the students of 
these countries in order to keep them at their studies ? Why 
or why not? Is the continual production of an educated class 
sufficiently essential to national welfare to justify students re- 
maining in the Universities, when they might be giving their 
full energy to restoring the economic self-sufficiency of the 
peoples? If they were giving a large amount of time to self- 
help would this change your answer? 

3. If student relief is to be given from America, what con- 
ditions, if any, of self-help would you feel should be required? 
Are these being met ? 

4. Granted that such aid to students were given by nations 
better situated economically, such as the United States, what 
attitude with respect to the use of knowledge and efficiency so 
gained would the donors of such help have a right to expect of 
those who had been aided to get an education ? 

E. International Significance of Relief Work 

1. What effect is the relief work likely to have upon the fellow- 
ship between nations and upon the development of world wide 
solidarity? 

2. What special significance in international relations is there 
likely to come from developing a greater solidarity among 
the students of various nations because students in the more 
favored lands are cooperating to help their fellow students in 
the more needy nations? 

3. If America should fail to do her part in meeting Europe's 
needs, would it or would it not tend to develop antagonisms 
between her and other nations? 

III. America's Obligation. 

I. In view of all the data this study has given, what do you 
think should be America's attitude toward suffering Europe? 
What sort of relief should America provide and for how long? 



20 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

2. How does America's responsibility in this regard compare 
with that of other nations? 

3. If there is no reasonable hope of permanently improving con- 
ditions, does it or does it not still seem that it is worth while to 
feed the starving? 

4. What leverage with reference to the improvement of physical, 
economic, social, and moral conditions in Europe is America 
likely to acquire through the extensive relief operations? Would 
it be worthy and honorable for Americans to regard the secur- 
ing of such leverage one of the motives for feeding the starv- 
ing in Europe? Why? Why not? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

America's Concern for the Distress In Europe 

Affecting the Destinies of Nations 

The mere bestowal of alms has not been the chief function of 
American philanthropy overseas. It has reached the roots of inter- 
national economic life and affected the destinies of republics and em- 
pires. The social stability and physical well-being, and therefore the 
moral attitude of coming generations, are bound up in the consequences 
of our beneficence. Thus it is interwoven with the statesmanship of 
these troubled times. Never before has helpfulness been so fraught 
with significance. Moreover, the relief machine is still working. — Isaac 
F. Marcosson, Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1921, p. 21. 

Preserving the Foundations of Society 

The work of these great associations, the Red Cross, the Relief 
Administration, the Friends' Service Committee, and Jewish Joint Dis- 
tribution Committee, and all the others, is a work in protection of your 
children and of my children. For some time in the future, unless these 
children are preserved and cared for, our children will be infected by 
them. Those children are the real wastage of the war, this mass of 
undernourished, underfed, mentally, morally and physically destitute 
children. Twenty years from now they will form the basis of civilization 
of Eastern Europe. They must be saved, and they must be built up 
morally and physically. It must be done if we are to preserve the founda- 
tion of society in Eastern Europe, and above all it must be done if we 
are to preserve the love of humanity in the United States. These chil- 
dren are no more my children than they are your children. They are 
the obligation of every man and every woman in the United States after 
he has cared for his own children and his neighbors' children. They 
are a charge upon the heart and upon the conscience of America. The 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 21 

completion of this task is indeed the completion of a great chapter in 
our national history, a chapter for which our children will remember 
our generation with gratitude. The abandonment of this mass of chil- 
dren would bring a shock not alone to our national honor abroad, but 
a shock to those of us who believe in the ideals of the American people, 
and a shock to our children for three generations. I would rather have 
the American flag implanted in the hearts of these fifteen million chil- 
dren than flying from any citadel in Europe. — Herbert Hoover, Ameri- 
can Relief Administration Bulletin, February 1, 1921, p. 2. 

The Argument from Self-interest 

It would not be difficult to elaborate economic and sociological 
reasons to justify American aid in this crisis [the feeding of needy 
children in Central Europe]. With our rapidly increasing surplus of 
manufactured goods on the one hand, and with Europe still and for 
many years to come not actually but potentially our principal market, 
we have a direct interest in restoring as soon as may be the economic 
life and concomitant buying power of Europe. The moral factor in 
this reintegration of European life is as large a factor as are material 
resources. The factor of political stability is likely to make slow progress 
in countries in which the present unrest is aggravated by the grief and 
despair of millions of parents who see their children starving. Today, 
the American flag, made by the children themselves as a spontaneous 
expression of their gratitude, is as familiar to millions of children in 
Europe as is the flag of their own countries. 

But I need not labor the argument of self-interest to Americans 
when human life and the happiness of children are involved. The con- 
science and humanity of our people have not failed. They will not now. 
— Herbert Hoover, World's Work, December, 1920, p. 131. 

Help Europe or Participate in Europe's Misery 

Wle are going to find out that we can no more escape the influence 
of the European situation of today than we were able to escape the war 
itself. You cannot have one half of the world starving and the other 
half eating. We must help put Europe on its feet or we must participate 
in Europe's misery. — Henry P. Davison, Chairman of the Board of 
Governors, League of Red Cross Societies, Survey, April 24, 1920, p. 137. 

Aspects of American Relief Activities 

It was not alone a problem of finding foodstuffs for starving popu- 
lations of the ravaged regions. It was the problem of finding a large 
margin of foodstuffs and other supplies for the whole of Europe — Allies, 
liberated peoples, neutrals and enemies. In a mass of at least two hun- 
dred million persons formerly under enemy domination it was a problem 



22 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

of finding absolute economic rehabilitation. Further than this, it was 
also a problem of warding off Bolshevism on one side and reaction on 
the other, in order that the newborn democracies could have an oppor- 
tunity to grow. In the race toward economic chaos the European Allies 
were not far behind the enemy. Central Europe had broken down on 
the home front rather than on the fighting front. Germany could have 
halted a year on the Rhine but for the economic collapse within her 
borders. 

With the break-up of the old order came the dissolution of the 
organization of the old channels of communication. A system of trans- 
portation closely knit by economic relation and mutual necessity was 
suddenly broken up. River craft and railway rolling stock were hoarded 
by each state ; telegraph and postal intercourse were wrecked ; every 
frontier was the scene of more or less military friction until at one 
moment twenty-five little wars were in progress. The map was literally 
torn to pieces. Many of the new governments were without experience 
or even the existence of departments for the conduct of transportation or 
the distribution of supplies. Thus we faced an utter economic demoral- 
ization, made more acute by petty jealousies and innumerable barriers 
of race, caste and creed. Through this exhaustion the whole of Europe 
faced a famine the like of which has not been since the Thirty Years' 
War, when a third of the population died of starvation. 

It was necessary for us to provision the people, to erect actual de- 
partments within the various governments, to furnish them advisers, to 
take over the operation of thousands of miles of disintegrated railway 
systems, to open rivers and canals for traffic, to stimulate the production 
of coal and other primary commodities, to control their distribution 
through large areas, to find a basis for exchange of surplus commodities 
from one state to the other, to obtain the disgorgement of surpluses 
into famine areas, to resort to border barter on a national scale where 
currencies had broken down, and finally, that most important of all 
labors, to save the children and to stamp out contagious diseases. — Her- 
bert Hoover, quoted by Isaac F. Marcosson, Saturday Evening Post, 
April 30, 1921, p. 22. 

The Quakers in Germany 

The Society of Friends has represented a large number of the 
American people in the feeding of the children of Germany since Febru- 
ary, 1920. Beginning then in a small way . . . they quietly enlarged 
their operations until in June, 1020. they reached a maximum of 632,000. 
children. The figures fell during the summer holidays to 150,000. 
When the winter of 1920-21 came on they gradually increased until by 
the end of May, 1921, 1,000.000 children were partaking of the food 
which America sent. 

The organization by which this great undertaking has been carried 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 23 

on is simple and efficient. The country is divided into convenient dis- 
tricts, each under the supervision of one or more Americans. The 
central office is in Berlin. The occupied areas are included in the opera- 
tions, the feeding of the children in the British occupied area being 
financed through the English Friends. Some 40 Quakers, who are paid 
by the home committee only their expenses, suffice for the direction of 
the work. Nearly 25,000 Germans cooperate with them in the actual 
performance of the service. 

The German Government has given its official recognition to this 
philanthropic bit of internationalism by giving the use of a central ware- 
house in Hamburg, by supplying free railroad transportation for both 
the food and the workers, and by furnishing the flour and sugar of the 
ration, which constitute nearly one half its value. 

The local cooperation has been equally cordial. All overhead ex- 
penses in the cities and towns where the children are fed have been 
borne by the municipalities. They have equipped the necessary kitchens, 
given local transportation, and furnished and staffed the feeding centers. 
Because of these great contributions in Germany to the work, a dollar 
given in America has been doubled, rather than diminished, by the time 
it reached the child for whom it was intended. 

Lack of funds has made it impossible to feed all of the children of 
Germany, even if it were deemed desirable; nor has it been possible even 
to feed the neediest children fully. Only a supplementary meal served 
directly to the children who have been selected by medical examination 
has been permitted by the funds available. 

Race, nationality and religion have played absolutely no part in this 
purely humanitarian work. Commendation has been bestowed upon it 
unstintedly by Catholic and Protestant alike. Jew and Gentile have 
supported it. The Jewish Joint Distribution Board in America contrib- 
uted for it $100,000 in a lump sum to the American Friends Service 
Committee. 

Countless letters of gratitude from the mothers as well as from the 
children that benefit by the feeding have been received. — Friends' Service 
Committee Report. 

The Basal Problem in Permanent Relief 

[Hoover] is a square built man with a massive clean-shaven face, 
broad forehead and brown eyes ; he has the simplicity of a peasant and 
the brain of a scientist who sees the problems of life without passion, 
without preconceived ideas, without sentiment but in their essential truth. 

He spoke first of the state of Europe. The condition of Austria, he 
said, was worse now than a year ago, fed by charity which he was still 
organizing in America, but not being healed of its social disease, for 
charity could do no real good, though it was a duty tQ do what it could in 
rescuing. . . . 



24 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

America had "pulled out" after spending a billion and a half dollars 
upon the relief of the stricken countries, and for a time he had organ- 
ized a system of credits and supplies which had helped to keep Central 
Europe from certain starvation. But he could do nothing with European 
statesmen. They would agree on a reasonable conclusion when assem- 
bled around a table, and then go away and do nothing to carry out the 
idea — do everything to thwart it. All the new states get busy putting up 
frontiers against each other, with customs dues and all kinds of barriers 
to free intercourse and exchange. 

The Poles would not help themselves, and endless intrigue pre- 
vented recovery and health. From the Poles in America ioo million 
dollars had been sent to Committees, and if that money had been used 
as credit for food supplies, the starving population would have been well 
nourished; but the money was passed through the clearing houses of 
London and Paris so that Poland received perfumes, soaps, luxuries for 
her profiteers, instead of food for her people. 

In Serbia there is an immense store of surplus food which would 
be easy of transport to the stricken populations of Central Europe. But 
Serbia will not sell it eastwards. She seeks higher profits and sends it 
to Italy, France, and England, while food for her neighbors had to be 
sent all the way from America to keep them alive. 

"Europe must unite on economic lines or perish," said Mr. Hoover, 
and he does not speak lightly, or use careless phrases. These words on 
his lips are a sentence of death, if Europe does not heed his warning. — 
Sir Philip Gibbs, Review of Reviews (English Edition), March, 192 1, 
pp. 170, 171. 

Demonstrating a Method to the World 

The influence of the people of America was never before so potent 
in Europe as it is to-day, and there is no question of greater importance 
than how this influence is to be used. The effect of the work of many 
American organizations and of many American men and women in 
Europe is helping to lay the foundation of that better order of which 
we have all been talking for so many years and of that peace and 
mutual trust which is the greatest need of the world to-day. 

One often hears the term "peaceful penetration" used with a sin- 
ister significance, but these people working abroad have found a method 
of "peaceful penetration" that is not sinister. They are working their 
way through and are clearing the way as they go; they are quietly 
demonstrating a method to the world. It was in speaking of a method 
and policy similar to this in spirit that Abraham Lincoln said : "We — 
even we here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. We shall 
nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means 
may succeed ; this cannot fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, 
just — a way which if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 25 

must forever bless." — John Lovejoy Elliott, Survey, October 2, 1920, 
p. 46. 

The Outlook for the Future 

Children Innocent of the War 

America . . . has played a leading part in helping the children, 
and will surely continue. No permanent help is in sight and no one can 
be sure when it will come. . . . 

There are two reasons why I hope [child relief] will go on. First, 
of the many good elements in human nature, none is so good as the 
response to children, and the richest nation of the world will not 
desert the children of the world at this time of their greatest need; and 
secondly, the effect of helping these little people is producing an in- 
calculably great effect upon all peoples. 

Many may believe it is just that the Germans and Austrians should 
bear the brunt of the results of the war, but only a depraved and perverted 
hatred can wish to visit the penalties of starvation upon the children. 
Of course none of these children were responsible for the war. The 
youngest of them who suffer most have never even heard of it ; yet 
there are millions of children who will carry the marks not of battle, 
but of hunger and starvation, in their minds and bodies and character 
long after all those who made the war have passed away. It is because 
this injury to the next generation is so unjust that it is so dangerous. 
It is the memory of unjust punishment that remains longest in the 
mind of the individual. It is the memory of undeserved suffering which 
keeps alive resentment and hatred through generations of history. The 
children of the world are innocent of this war and the best way to 
prevent another is to see to it that their bodies and minds are not 
warped and distorted, but are helped by the better spirit which should 
have come with peace. — John Lovejoy Elliott, Survey, October 2, 1920, 
P. 45- 
Europe's Inability to Care for Its Children 

It is a fortunate thing for the Europe of tomorrow that the 
memory of children is short. If they could remember what they have 
seen and felt in the six years just past and what millions of them are 
suffering now, they could not build the next world with faith. Wars and 
all social disasters fall most heavily upon the children who never make 
wars, and stay longer with them. After the period of homelessness and 
starvation which is not over yet for millions in eastern Europe there is 
still to come a period of reconstruction, when the necessity for reestab- 
lishing economic and political institutions will push the needs of the 
children aside. No matter how much they want to, the countries of 
Europe cannot take adequate care of their children for years to come. 

In the meantime, as a result of six years, the children are facing a 



26 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

crisis which will put many of them beyond the reach of tardy help. 
This crisis is not altogether a matter of food. It is partly the need for 
other creature comforts, partly the need of education and partly the 
need for repairing damage already done to their minds and bodies. 

All figures as to the general situation of child life in Europe are 
necessarily rather hazardous estimates. Their accuracy is least in re- 
gions where the need for help is obviously greatest. If the map of 
Europe were shaded to show where distress is most acute the blackest 
belt would lie along the western borders of Russia, and run from the 
Baltic Sea south and east to Constantinople. It would cover the eastern 
portions of Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Aus- 
tria, Hungary, Serbia, Rumania, and Ukrainia. It would not be so 
black in the west but even in France, Belgium and Italy, where country 
districts have been devastated, it would still show great need. 

Real information as to the present state of child life in the eastern 
part of Europe is impossible, however, because at times like these when 
care and protection fail the children, the ordinary social agencies for 
investigation and information also fail to record the disaster. When 
doctors and nurses are lacking as a result of war and epidemics, the 
information which their knowledge would have accumulated is also 
lacking. A solitary Red Cross hospital may be an outpost against a 
flood of misery and menacing disease. Doctors there may know that its 
doors are besieged by crowds of pleading mothers whose children can 
be saved only by their skill. But no one on such a staff can under those 
circumstances undertake to say how many are ill, how many thousands 
more may be out of reach of all help. — Major Lyman Bryson, Forum, 
January, 1921, pp. 25, 26. 

Relative Need of Different Areas 

The Czecho-Slovakian Government has already stated that it will 
require no more assistance. Poland will need help. Theirs has been the 
greatest suffering of the war and this was extended by the Bolshevik 
invasion of last spring. This has been the greatest center of all our 
effort — with a desire to help the Polish people, not only from suffering 
but toward the road to freedom. . . . 

In proportion to the other areas, such as Poland and Austria, the 
undernourishment and disease among German children are very much 
less. Germany, with double the population, has one-half the total of 
undernourished children of Poland. But some of the German industrial 
areas are in a very bad way. The agricultural sections are not so badly 
off, but the mortality of children in German industrial sections has been 
indeed an awful spectacle. It has been the attitude of most of our 
countrymen, except in the case of some extremists, that we are not 
fighting women and children and that we would make no discrimination 
between children of enemies and children of friends. . . . 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 27 

So far as Austria is concerned I can see no daylight ahead. Where 
an ethnical state has been created whose population, through the pro- 
cesses of economic development, has been raised beyond its agricultural 
states, you have a hopeless set-up when this intercourse is interrupted. 
This is precisely what has happened with Austria. She is isolated in 
the midst of plenty by racial prejudices and recollections of former 
tyranny. If it is possible to reestablish her old economic relationships 
with her neighbors by the breaking down of the barriers of race and 
custom she can get on her feet. The whole economic fabric for the 
upper Danube naturally radiates from Vienna. If Vienna can again 
become the commercial center of this region she can exist. If not, there 
will be an excess population of one million people, who must go hungry. 
Pending something being done, the Austrian children must be fed, and 
that is what we are doing. In Vienna alone during the winter just 
ending, we have served three hundred fifty thousand children, or 85 
per cent of the child population. 

I believe that in time economic necessity will overcome such racial 
and other prejudices as exist between Austria and her neighbors. You 
must remember that the reerection of a vast machine of economic life 
cannot be accomplished in a few years. 

In Poland . . . there would have been a return to normal condi- 
tions by this time but for the Bolshevist invasion, which set the country 
back to where it was at the time of the armistice and created a whole new 
area of ruin and desolation. . . . 

The Russian refugees present a dilemma for which there is no 
solution so far as I can see until the Bolshevik Government falls. In 
addition to more than two hundred thousand Russian children there 
are eight hundred thousand adults — the Intelligentzia — scattered all the 
way from Helsingfors to Constantinople. If these men and women 
are not kept alive there will be no nucleus out of which to build the 
future Russia. 

The Russian problem remains one of the greatest in all Europe. — 
Herbert Hoover, quoted by Isaac F. Marcosson, Saturday Evening 
Post, April 30, 1 92 1, pp. 34, 36. 

Appeal for Russia from Maxim Gorky 

Moscow, July 13, 1921. 
To All Honest People : 
The corn-growing steppes are smitten by crop failure, caused by 
the drought. The calamity threatens starvation to millions of Russian 
people. Think of the Russian people's exhaustion by the war and revo- 
lution, which considerably reduced its resistance to disease and its 
physical endurance. Gloomy days have come to the country of Tolstoy, 
Dostoyevsky, . . . and other world-prized men, and I venture to trust 
that the cultured European and American people, understanding the 



28 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

tragedy of the Russian people, will immediately succor with bread and 
medicines. . . . Maxim Gorky. 

— New York Times Current History, September, 1921, p. 1032. 

Probability of Recurrent Famines in Russia 

The urgent appeal to "all honest men" to come to the rescue of 
Russia's starving millions, which Maxim Gorky sent out . . . has served 
to concentrate universal attention on the world's most pressing problem. 
How immediate and insistent is this problem may be realized from the 
patent fact that Europe cannot settle down to normal life and restore 
production while Russia remains "an economic vacuum," and that the 
threat of vast epidemics and of the incursion of famished hordes is a 
very real one. . . . 

It is evident that sending in food from the outside, essential as this 
is ... , can relieve only an infinitesimal portion of Russia's suffering 
millions. The present emergency will be only the prelude to more ter- 
rible famine conditions in 1922 and 1923, unless there is a radical change. 
Russia, formerly the great food producer, must be enabled to feed herself. 
For this she needs seed, implements, and railroads. But there is no 
use in attempting to furnish these things while a system persists which 
nullifies all constructive effort and which destroys faster than the people 
can build. While the dead hand of the Communist rule continues to 
grip the country there is no hope to avert further horrors. Mr. Hoover 
expresses this clearly when he says that such food shortages "will be 
recurrent every year until there is a much further change in the 
economic system." — Jerome Landfield, Reviezv of Reviews, pp. 267, 
269, 270. 

The Restoration of Economic Order Essential 

It is, of course, only too obvious that the marshalled charity of 
the world, governmental and unofficial, will not alone heal the disease 
from which Europe is suffering. Increased production and the restora- 
tion of economic order out of political and economic chaos are the only 
solutions of the problem that now almost defies the ingenuity of those 
who face it. — William Goode, British Director of Relief in Europe, 
quoted in The Survey, April 24, 1920, p. 137. 

Principles Applicable to Relief Work 

Self-relief Wherever Possible 

The most evident conclusion to be drawn from the world's adven- 
tures in charity is that no aid extended to an individual or a nation, 
when the recipient is able to effect self-relief, can prove permanently 
beneficial. Insofar as any charity tends toward pauperism, insofar as 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 29 

any charity breeds a train of new demands, the world would be better 
off without it. 

This thought has been the underlying, stabilizing guide in the 
conduct of the various relief programs that my American colleagues and 
I have directed during the past six years. In Belgium the feeding of 
more than 7,000,000 destitute persons, necessitating credits of more than 
$900,000,000, was carried on with simple machinery, at no time re- 
quiring the presence within the country of more than fifty Americans 
and functioning always in such manner as to elicit the services of able 
and public-spirited men and women throughout the 2,600 communes. 
This system of local committee management, with its motivating im- 
pulses of community pride and community obligation, did much more 
than insure efficiency at the time. It enabled the Commission for Relief 
in Belgium, as soon as conditions permitted the withdrawal of American 
aid, to leave behind a cohesive, nationwide network of civic and child 
welfare committees. The death rate for children in Belgium when we 
ceased operations there had been brought to a lower figure than at any 
time before the war, and the Belgian and French personnel of 55,000 
was so enthusiastic that our withdrawal caused no cessation. 

In all the operations of the European Children's Fund, the same 
precautions have been taken : first, to supply only vitally necessary 
and locally unobtainable food; second, to make possible early with- 
drawal from the field with no consequent let-up of child welfare ac- 
tivity. . . . 

We must not, for Europe's sake, feed any portion of Europe beyond 
the time when it is within the power of local charities and local gov- 
ernments to perform the whole task. But, whether the interval be one 
winter or two, we cannot as Americans fail, when we are the sole hope, 
to do our part in the alleviation of a more appalling misery than his- 
tory has yet recorded. — Herbert Hoover, American Relief Administra- 
tion Bulletin, December 31, 1920, pp. 2, 4. 

Emergency Relief, Constructive Remedy and Prevention 

In the popular mind there is an idea that relief and economic meas- 
ures for stabilizing order consist in handing out something, and letting 
it go at that. The aims and purposes of this American action in Europe 
have been projected on far different lines. Broadly, the charitable part 
of these measures must fall into three phases — emergency relief, con- 
structive remedy, and prevention. There is all that host of cases result- 
ing from disaster, from sickness, from unemployment, from loss of 
breadwinners, which must be met instantly. With this relief must march 
those constructive remedies which carry the unfortunates on to the road 
of self-support. Beyond these are the vital measures of prevention by 
the upbuilding of the physical and moral well-being of the children, the 



3 o AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

minimizing of unemployment, the encouragement of thrift and the im- 
provement of conditions of living and lahor. 

All these elements have entered into the shaping of our action in 
Europe. One dominating idea from the start has been to stimulate 
self-help. Whenever we have entered a country the first task has been 
to call the people together and create organizations among them for 
carrying out the work of succor. Our preliminary instruction has in- 
variably been : "Help yourselves." We have made them pay the local 
cost of operation. Local money passes current for local expense. We 
have simply supplied the skill and experience in the development of 
administration. Nothing so inspires hope amidst suffering as the real- 
ization that self-help is not impossible. 

The result of impressing this gospel of self-help is that in Central 
Europe alone there are today more than twenty-five thousand highly 
organized local institutions recruited solely from among the people 
themselves and capable of coping with any emergency. They provide a 
central point around which civic, social, political and philanthropic in- 
terests can rally. They represent one permanent aftermath of the Ameri- 
can relief work because they were primarily formed to conduct relief 
under our auspices. . . . While Europe will not get back to normal 
in thirty years, we must bear in mind that the standard of living in 
large areas there is hopelessly below ours, and the problem is to get 
these people back to their own minimum standard. — Herbert Hoover, 
quoted by Isaac F. Marcosson, Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1921, 
pp. 22, 36. 

Basis for American Relief in Russia 

I have read with great feeling your appeal to Americans for charit- 
able assistance to the starving and sick people of Russia, more particu- 
larly the children. . . . The American Relief Administration, a purely 
voluntary association and an entirely unofficial organization, of which 
I am Chairman, together with other cooperating charitable American 
organizations supported wholly through the generosity of the American 
people, have funds in hand by which assistance for the children and for 
the sick could be undertaken immediately. This organization has pre- 
viously several times in the last year intimated its willingness to under- 
take this service as one of simple humanity, disengaged absolutely from 
any political, social or religious motives. However, for obvious admin- 
istrative reasons it has been and is compelled to stipulate for cer- 
tain undertakings. Subject to the acceptance of these undertakings we 
are prepared to enter upon this work. 

We are today caring for 3,500,000 of children in ten different coun- 
tries and would be willing to furnish necessary supplement of food, 
clothing and medical supplies to a million children in Russia as rapidly 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 31 

as organization could be effected. The administrative conditions that we 
are obliged to make are identically the same as those that have been 
established in every one of the twenty-three countries where operations 
have been conducted one time or another in care of upward of eight 
million children. 

The conditions are that the Moscow Soviet authorities should give 
a direct statement to the Relief Administration representatives in Riga 
(a) that there is need of our assistance; (b) that American representa- 
tives of the Relief Administration shall be given full liberty to come and 
go and move about Russia; (c) that these members shall be allowed to 
organize the necessary local committees and local assistance free from 
Governmental interference; (d) that they shall be given free transporta- 
tion of imported supplies with priority over other traffics, that the au- 
thorities shall assign necessary buildings and equipment and fuel free 
of charge; (e) that in addition to the imported food, clothing and medi- 
cines the children and the sick must be given the same rations of such 
local supplies as are given to the rest of the population; (f) that the 
Relief Administration must have the assurance of non-interference of 
the Government with the liberty of all its members. 

On its side the Relief Administration is prepared as usual to make 
a free and frank undertaking, first, that it will within its resources supply 
all children and invalids alike without regard to race, creed or social 
status; second, that its representatives and assistants in Russia will en- 
gage in no political activities. 

I desire to repeat that these conditions are in no sense extraordinary, 
but are identical with those laid down and readily accepted by the twenty- 
three other Governments in whose territories we have operated. — Tele- 
gram from Herbert Hoover, in answer to the appeal of Maxim Gorky 
made in behalf of starving and sick men, women and children in Soviet 
Russia. New York Times, July 25, 192 1. 

Principles Followed in Student Relief 

1. All relief work is conducted as far as possible on sound economic 
lines, no student being helped without careful examination of his 
financial and other needs. Students pay to the utmost of their ability 
for whatever they receive. 

2. Self-help is in every possible way encouraged. 

3. Close cooperation is followed with existing agencies, both in 
raising money and in administration on the field, to avoid overlapping. 
The aim is, by careful correlation of effort and the minimum of over- 
head expense, to secure the maximum relief for the maximum number of 
students in so far as this is possible without (a) endangering the 
principle of self-help, and (b) without losing sight of the importance of 
developing human personal contacts. In every field effort is made to 



32 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

work in accordance with the national spirit and methods, and to make 
use of indigenous workers and agencies. 

4. Relief is administered impartially, without regard to race, na- 
tionality, or creed, or any other criterion than proven need. — "Student 
Friendship Fund, 1921-22," p. 18. 

Relief for Student Groups 

Student Relief Projects 

The general European Student Relief scheme was formally launched 
in August, 1920, by the unanimous decision of representatives of students 
of thirty-nine nations gathered at Beatenberg, Switzerland, as the Execu- 
tive Committee of the World's Student Christian Federation. 

During the fall of that year campaigns for funds and supplies were 
carried on in the different countries, and further organization of the 
relief efforts in the respective fields was undertaken. A fund of approxi- 
mately $480,000 was contributed by the students of America. Contribu- 
tions were made by twenty-five other countries. In cooperation with the 
American Relief Administration the work expanded progressively until 
April of 192 1, when the full program was in operation in the following 
eleven countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Asia Minor, Austria, 
Czechoslovakia, Esthonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Turkey; 
also in France and Switzerland among foreign students. 

The operations have touched 120 different institutions of higher learn- 
ing, with an attendance of 250,000 students. Help has been given in one 
form or another to some 70,000 students. 

Through measures of physical relief and means for self-help adminis- 
tered by the World's Student Christian Federation in cooperation with 
the American Relief Administration many thousands of worthy students 
have been lifted from despair and placed in position to complete their 
education. The work has been the more effective in that the recipients 
of relief are doing all that is within their own power to maintain them- 
selves. The majority of the students in most of the countries served are 
giving part time to whatever employment comes to their hands, no matter 
how pitifully small the compensation. 

Relief operations have been conducted in eleven countries on the 
basis of contributions from students in more than twice that number of 
countries. The immediate results have been large ; the permanent re- 
sults cannot be estimated ; but certainly the moral and spiritual results 
will far outweigh all others. This is an inevitable conclusion when it is 
considered that the students of upwards of forty nations have been drawn 
together in a common effort to pool their available resources to save 
part of their number from physical and intellectual starvation, and to 
build stronger and more lasting foundations for the world relationships 
of the future. The service has transcended all barriers of race, nation- 



SHARING IN EUROPEAN RELIEF 33 

ality, language, creed, or political animosity. — "Student Friendship Fund, 
1921-22," pp. 12-13, 6-7. 

Opinions of Outstanding Leaders 

The hope of the future in Europe lies in the education of the coming 
generation, and it is certainly a privilege if in America we can help at 
least to feed and clothe the young men and women of these devastated 
lands so that they may pursue their studies without the gnawing anxiety 
in their hearts as to where or how they can ohtain sufficient food to keep 
them barely alive. — Dr. John Grier Hibben, President of Princeton Uni- 
versity, "Student Friendship Fund, 1921-22," p. 11. 

The fate of democratic movements in Central Europe is largely in 
the hands of the student classes. Thousands of the best type are strug- 
gling under almost unbearable physical conditions, paying a heavy price 
for necessary training. They need friendly encouragement expressed 
through food, clothing, books, and medical supplies, in order to continue 
the struggle to fix democratic ideals in Europe and replace hatreds with 
good will. — Professor Thomas W. Graham, Oberlin College, "Student 
Friendship Funds, 1921-22," pp. 10, 11. 

I had ample opportunity of observing how the contributions of our 
Universities and Colleges are distributed among the needy members of 
the University of Vienna and other seats of learning in Central Europe. 
I am convinced that the machinery of distribution on the spot is thor- 
oughly efficient and most economically worked. The objective of the 
work is actually attained ; the universities of Central Europe are being 
materially aided to keep open their doors. Relief is fulfilling a noble pur- 
pose in keeping alight the torch of learning in countries where its bril- 
liancy has been overshadowed by the national disaster. I am absolutely 
certain that this work is helping powerfully towards drawing together 
again nations naturally friendly to each other but estranged by war. — 
Sir Maurice de Bunsen, former British Ambassador to Vienna, "Student 
Friendship Fund, 1921-22," pp. 9, 10. 

A Characteristic Question and a Telling Reply 

The speaker has concluded his address and invites questions. After 
the usual painful silence, a voice is at last uplifted. 

Student. But what's to be the end of it all? We can't go on feed- 
ing them forever. Why don't these fellows get out and work? 

Speaker. Carefully collected statistics show that practically every 
student in Poland, Austria and Esthonia, and at least 65 per cent of 
students in Hungary and fifty per cent in Germany are doing wage-earn- 
ing work : that where they are not working, it is either because they can- 
not find work to do, or because they are physically unfit: that the work 
they do rarely brings in enough to support them while studying. In 



34 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Latvia eighty per cent of the students in the University of Riga are work- 
ing in Government offices or other places of business. So universally 
do students earn their living that the University recognizes the system, 
and no classes are held between 9 a. m. and 3 p. m. 

Student. Yes, they're teaching and clerking, and that sort of thing, 
I suppose. But. what I want to know is — do they work with their hands? 

Speaker. They certainly do. There are considerable difficulties, un- 
fortunately, with the Trade Unions. No student, for instance, in some 
countries, can get employment as a printer, unless he joins the Printers' 
Union, and the unions oppose all admission of "intellectuals." Never- 
theless, in spite of all obstacles, the Austrian, German and Polish statis- 
tics show students working not only as teachers, typists, and clerks, but 
also as mechanics, woodcutters, harvesters, casual laborers, farm laborers, 
night watchmen, coal-heavers, builders, chauffeurs, street car conductors, 
shoemakers, workers in film factory, film actors, lithographers, musicians 
in cinematographs, restaurants and cafes, shoeblacks, basket-weavers, 
navvies, gardeners, typesetters and waiters, and in factories of all kinds. 
Women students have done waiting, sewing, knitting, dressmaking, em- 
broidery, making preserves, picking and drying vegetables, millinery, fine 
ironing, reading aloud, convalescent nursing, telephone operating, taking 
charge of hotel linen, canvassing, collecting bills for landladies. — "The 
Way Out," World's Student Christian Federation, European Student 
Relief Series No. 13. 



CHAPTER IV 

SHOULD WE CANCEL EUROPE'S WAR 
INDEBTEDNESS TO US? 

I. The Present Situation 

i. European nations owe the American government ten billion 
dollars together with accrued interest. Why did America loan 
money to Europe? 

2. In what form are the debts held? How do they compare 
with the external loans of our former "Allies"? 

3. On what basis and with what conditions were these loans 
made? Did America drive a hard bargain? 

4. What would be the annual interest credit to the United 
States on these debts? How much has been paid? Why are 
interest payments being postponed? What effect does this 
non-payment of interest have on government taxes in America? 

5. Is this indebtedness increasing? If so, how and why? 

6. What shall America do about this indebtedness? Should 
she cancel Europe's war indebtedness to her? 

II. Information Essential to an Intelligent Discussion of This 

Question 

A. The Bearing of American Loans on European Recovery. 

1. Is Europe able to pay the debt? 

2. It is stated that Great Britain is of all the European nations 
the most able to pay her debt. Does it seem to you that it 
would be necessary for Great Britain to capture the carrying 
trade of the world if she is to remain solvent and if her vast 
debt is to be paid ? 

3. What danger, if any, is there that the debtor nations may 
repudiate their obligations to this country? In what condition 
would this leave international credit and finance? 

4. Would or would not the cancellation of the debts owed to 
America tend to encourage a repetition of mad war prepara- 
tions? Why do you think so? 

5. In the light of the discussion of the above questions, sum- 

35 



36 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

marizc what effect you think America's insistence upon the legal 
conditions of the loans is likely to have upon: 

a. The solvency of the various Allied nations. 

b. The Allies' reparation demands upon Germany. 

c. Progress in disarmament. 

6. How heavy a sacrifice would you be willing for European na- 
tions to make, as in lowered standards of living or the forcing 
of a larger percentage of women and children into industry, 
or the establishment of longer hours of labor, in order to pay 
their debts to us? 

B. The Bearing of the Payment of the German Reparations 

Upon Europe's Anility to Pay. 

1. Can France pay England and America without the help of the 
German indemnity ? 

2. Can England pay America if France is unable to pay Eng- 
land? 

3. Can Germany pay the reparations unless she recovers her nor- 
mal economic position with respect to industry and interna- 
tional trade? 

4. Even if she is able, will Germany pay the reparations without 
coercion ? 

5. Is America more interested in the economic recovery of the 
Central Powers or in the coercive measures of the Allied 
Powers with respect to the payment of the reparations ? Should 
we, in order to secure the payment of the debts due us, aid 
Germany and Austria in recovery or the Allied Powers in co- 
ercion, or do both ? 

6. Under which circumstances are the Central Powers the more 
to be feared: if bankrupt, helpless, starving, resentful, and 
aflame with revolutionary agitation, or if vigorous, self-reliant, 
restored economically, aggressive and powerful in world trade, 
and possibly again truculent with the spirit of revenge? 

C. The Bearing of the Loan Cancellations Upon America's 

Welfare. 

1. It is claimed that the European nations must capture a large 
share of world trade if they are to pay their debts to the 
creditor nations. Which would be worth more to the United 
States: the full payment of principal and interest upon present 
debts at a sacrifice of our growing position in world trade, or 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 37 

a larger share in world trade but with perhaps only a partial 
collection of the indebtedness? Why? 

2. European nations claim that they cannot pay the debts except 
for the most part in the form of goods exported to the United 
States. Can we import the vast quantities necessary without 
swamping our own industries? Suppose Europe were able to 
pay in gold and silver, would this or would this not be to our 
advantage ? Why ? 

3. What effect would America's insistence upon the legal con- 
ditions of the loans be likely to have upon Europe's sentiment 
with regard to America? 

4. What has been the total effect of the cancellation of the 
Chinese indemnity upon America's status in the Far East and 
upon her world relations? Would or would not a similar atti- 
tude upon the part of America in the present case be likely to 
have equally favorable results? 

5. Summarize what you think the United States would gain 
and what she would lose by the cancellation of Europe's debts 
to her. 

6. Would you feel these effects of gain or loss would be enhanced 
if American merchants who have sold hundreds of millions of 
dollars worth of goods on long time credits would also cancel 
those outstanding private debts? Why? Why not? 

D. The Moral Obligation of America in View of Europe's 
Heavier Losses of Life During the War. 

1. Some say that in the early years of the war the Allies really 
were fighting our battles for us and that since the war cost the 
Allies so tremendously in man power the least we can do to 
show our gratitude is to help by cancelling the war debts owed 
to us. What do you think ? 

2. How far should we go in meeting the Allies' loss of man 
power by some appropriate release of money power? 

3. Do you feel that the obligation to cancel debts, if upon 
America at all, is alike and the same with respect to the debts 
of all the associated and Allied powers? 

4. Did France have more at stake than we? Did France get 
more out of the war? How far is it true that our nation made 
its appropriate contribution? What, if anything, do we owe 
France and the other Allied nations for their losses in man 
power ? 



38 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

5. Summarize what you feel the moral obligation of America 
to be, in view of Europe's heavier losses. 

III. The Basic Motive or Principle on which America's Pro- 

cedure with Respect to Debts Due Us Should Be De- 
cided 

1. What relative weight should the following have in deciding 
America's attitude? 

a. America's interests. 

b. Europe's needs. 

c. Noblesse oblige. 

d. That which will best promote wholesome international re- 
lationships. 

2. Should there be an attempt at equitable adjustment of loss 
and of gain as between the associated victorious powers, now 
that the war is over? 

3. If moral obligations exist but are not alike for all these 
powers, ought America to work out some basis of equity, and 
clear accounts by crediting Great Britain, let us say, in part 
at least, on the basis of any cancellation by her of debts due her 
from other Allied countries? 

4. How much of the loan would we cancel if our motive were the 
quickest possible rehabilitation of Europe? 

IV. What America Should Do About the Debt 

1. In view of all the considerations before you, do you feel 
America should 

a. Insist on the legal conditions of the payment of the debt? 

b. Make these conditions less difficult through postponement 
of interest payments and through helping Europe in every 
other practicable way to economic rehabilitation? 

c. Cancel part of the debt? 

d. Cancel all of the debt? 

e. Demand the transfer to the United States of important 
colonial areas, as those in the West Indies, or elsewhere, in 
lieu of debt payments? 

f. Demand the transfer to the United States of important 
units in the system of world communications, such as cables, 
in lieu of debt payments ? 

2. If she were to cancel part or all of the debt, what conditions 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 



39 



should she lay down, if any, as regards existing debts between 
European nations? 

3. Should America use her loans as a leverage in diplomacy in 
order to bring about continental and colonial adjustments 
which may be more to her liking than those now in force? If 
so, how could she do this most effectively ? Should any ease- 
ment in terms of payment of principal or interest be conditioned 
on reduction of armaments and the disbanding of armies on 
the part of our European debtors? 

4. It has been proposed by some that Great Britain should turn 
over to the United States her West Indian possessions as 
partial or entire payment of Britain's debt to us, thus giving the 
United States a larger control of the approaches to the Panama 
Canal. Do you think such an adjustment of the debt as between 
the two nations would be honorable, practicable, and desirable ? 
Why? Consider this both from Great Britain's and from 
America's point of view, and from the point of view of the 
inhabitants and property holders of the areas concerned. 

5. What attitude on our part with respect to the debt will best 
conserve the largest interests of Europe and America? 

6. Would you be willing to have the United States accept con- 
siderable sections of colonial Africa in lieu of debt payment? 
Why? Why not? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 



The Facts In the Case 

Debts of Foreign Governments Due to the United States 

An official statement issued in July, 1921, gave the schedule of 
foreign debts due to the United States at that time as follows: 



Obligations held for advances under Liberty 

Bond Acts — interest at o per cent. 

Country Amount 

Belgium $347,601,566.23 

Cuba 9,025,500.00 

Czecho-Slovakia 61,256,206. 74 

France 2.950,762,938 . 19 

Great Britain 4,166,318,358.44 

Greece 15,000,000.00 

Italy 1,648,034,050.90 

Liberia 26,000. 00 

Rumania 23,205,819.52 

Russia 187,729,750.00 

Serbia 26,175,139.22 



Obligations received from Secretary of War and 
Secretary of Navy on account of sale of 
surplus war materials. 

Country .. Total 

Belgium $27,588,581 . 14 

Czecho-Slovakia 20,621,094.54 

Esthonia 12, 213,377. 88 

France 400,000,000. 00 



Latvia . 

Lithuania 

Poland 

Rumania 

Russia 

Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 



2,521,869.32 

4,159.491.06 

59,636,320.2s 

12,922,675.42 

400,082.30 

24,978,020.99 



Total. 



$9,435,225,329.24 



Grand Total $565,048,413.80 



40 



AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 



Obligations held by the United States Grain 
Corporation. 

Country Principal Payable 

Armenia $3. 93 1,505.34 

Austria 24,055,708.92 

Czecho-Slovakia 2,873,238.25 

Hungary 1,685,835.61 

Poland 24,353,590.97 

Total 156,899,879.09 



Obligations received by treasurer from Ameri- 
can Relief Administration. 

Country Principal Payable 



Armenia 

Czecho-Slovakia. 

Esthonia 

Finland 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Poland 

Russia 



$8,028,412.15 
6,428,089. 19 
1,785,767.72 
8,281,926. 17 
2,610,417.82 
822,136.07 

51,671.74936 
4,465,465 . 07 



Total $84,093,963 • 55 



The grand total of original obligations, as enumerated above, is 
$10,141,267,585.68. To this is to be added the unpaid interest, which 
on July 1, aggregated in excess of $1,000,000,000, making the entire 
obligation on July 1 in excess of $11,200,000,000. — New York Times 
Current History, August, 1921, p. 802. 

Government and Private Loans 

Our foreign debt at this time amounts to about $11,000,000,000. 
We have loaned to different Governments of Europe about $10,000,000,- 
000, and there is now unpaid interest upon the loans of nearly $1,000,- 
000,000. So the foreign debt represents about $11,000,000,000. In 
addition to that, we have made loans to about $5,000,000,000 in the way 
of loans on securities by individuals or corporations. — Speech of Sena- 
tor William E. Borah in the Senate of the United States, July 25, 1921. 



Inter-allied Loans 

Loans to 

France 

Italy 

Russia 

Belgium 

Serbia and Jugoslavia. 
Other Allies 



Total . 



By 

United Kingdom 

$2,540,000,000 

2,335,000,000 

2,840,000,000 

490,000,000 

100,000,000 

395,000,000 

$8,700,000,000 



By France 

$ 

175,000,000 
800,000,000 
450,000,000 
100,000,000 
250,000,000 

$1,775,000,000 



— John Maynard Keynes, "The Economic Consequences of the 
Peace," p. 271. 



One general principle . . . for inter-Allied financial relations during 
the war was that advances from one to another were considered as 
loans, not as grants. A second general principle was that each Govern- 
ment should bear the whole cost of all the expenses incurred on behalf 
of their own nationals, military or civilian, no matter where it was in- 
curred. It was only by this means that efficient control and economy 
could be hoped for. Transport would be more economically managed if 
the Government whose troops were being transported nominally paid 
the cost, than if the transportation was nominally free. Munitions and 
food would not be wasted to such an extent if the Government whose 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 41 

troops used them actually paid Ear them, as if another Government was 
responsible for paying. The value of a gun is never so well realized 
when it is received as a gift as when it is purchased. In the interests 
of economy it was essential that each consumer should pay for all his 
consumption. — R. Trouton, Economic Journal, March, 1921, p. 40. 

Europe has been buying from the United States a quantity of goods 
incalculably greater than the quantity of goods that Europe has been 
selling to the United States. This means that Europe has fallen deeply 
into debt. . . . For a few months the United States Treasury found the 
money and transferred it to foreign governments under the authority 
of Congress, which had authorized loans up to . . . $10,000,000,000. 
When, however, this limit was reached, Europe, in making her purchases 
from America, had to depend on banks and long credits with exporters 
and manufacturers. These accumulating debts had no government 
guarantee behind them and they have to be negotiated in the open money 
market. In one way or another, American capital has been tied up 
more and more closely in these European credits until, here also, as 
with the United States Treasury, a limit was reached. It became more 
difficult to place European "promises to pay" in the United States and 
this meant that such paper fell to a discount. — P. W. Wilson, Review of 
Review's, April, 1921, p. 394. 

The Debts Should Be Paid 

Foreign Liquidation to Pay Dekts 

The war gave Great Britain tangible assets in the removal of a 
formidable rival's naval and mercantile fleet and competition in world 
markets, and in a remarkable increase in her colonial holdings, while 
it gave us nothing at all. 

In the matter of mandates we' were offered nothing of value. We 
were not asked to share in the German indemnity, German colonies, 
German cables, German ships. Since the day we entered the war no 
European statesman has talked to us the way he has talked to his 
European associates. It is expected among the other nations that the 
booty — or, if you want to call it by a milder word, the advantages of 
victory — be shared. The premiers of the Big Three have never held a 
single meeting in which profit-sharing has not been discussed. 

But when they come to talk to us, they never mention the subject 
matter of the powwows among themselves. They take on an aggrieved 
tone, chide us for our back-sliding from idealism and generous desire to 
bear the world's burdens, and remind us constantly that they look to us 
for moral leadership, and that there is no salvation without our aid. 

The proposal that we forgive them their debts has not been coupled 
with an offer to grant us free trade with their colonies and protectorates, 



42 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

to give our trade a fair dial in the mandated territories, to consider 
out of their embarrassment of colonial riches the cession of any lands 
to Uncle Sam. 

Ordinarily, when a debtor cannot meet his obligations, interest 
payments, and amortization of principal, he looks around among his 
assets, and offers something to his creditor for a postponement of inter- 
est payment or a diminution of the principal. In other words, if he 
has anything to liquidate, he liquidates. When a nation owes money to 
another nation, and cannot pay the interest, it is the rule for the creditor 
nation to take steps against the debtor nation. — Herbert Adams Gibbons, 
Century Magasine, April, 1921, pp. 780, 781. 

Reservoirs of Wealth that Can Be Tapped 

I woidd hold to the payment of our debt, not only to bring order, 
disarmament and economy to Europe, which cannot find it for itself 
nor through any political instrument or treaty as yet devised, but also 
because I hold that there are means of payment. . . . There are terri- 
tories, transferable territories, within the American hemisphere, po- 
tentially valuable to us and I believe without economic value to their 
present sovereigns. There are cables, not only those which belonged to 
( iermany but others, the present ownership of which can be liquidated in 
order that they may be transferred to America in part payment of the 
debt. Anyone who has studied the present state of international com- 
munication in its bearing upon the making of world influence or the 
development of world commerce is driven inevitably to the conclusion 
that discrimination is practiced against the United States and that even 
though it were not, practically the United States suffers by reason of 
the foreign ownership of four-fifths of the means of communication 
throughout the world. 

Finally . . . there are in the world, and outside the confines of 
Europe, reservoirs of wealth from which revenue can be drawn for 
payment of the foreign indebtedness to the United States. There are 
east of us and south of us vast fields of wealth awaiting the intelligence 
and energy of civilized man for their exploitation, the result of which 
through the labors of the citizens and subjects of the creditor states can 
find their way into the treasury of the Great Creditor — the United 
States.- -Senator Medill McCormick, Annals of the American Academy 
of Political and Social Science, July, 1921, pp. 168, 169. 

American Maintenance of Foreign Armaments 

We are now under this process [of deferring interest payments on the 
Allied debts to the United States] in fact lending foreign governments 
about $1,000,000 a day; in that we are forgiving the interest or deferring 
it we are, in fact, imposing upon the American taxpayers the burden of 
taking care of our taxes and of continuing to lend to foreign govern- 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 43 

ments at the rate of nearly $1,000,000 a day. To the extent which the 
foreign governments can in good faith meet this debt and the interest 
upon it, we should inform them that we expect that to be done. The 
policy should be a definite, a positive and a firm policy; otherwise it will 
never achieve anything. . . . 

The effect of military expenditure by the Allied Powers is that the 
taxpayer of the United States is not only bearing the burdens with 
reference to our own armaments, but the American taxpayer is, in fact, 
carrying the burden for the armaments of France and England also. . . . 
So long as this debt remains unpaid and the interest remains unpaid, 
and the American taxpayer must meet the taxes that are imposed upon 
him because of the deferment of interest and the payment of the 
principal, we are taking care of the entire armaments of the United 
States and of our late Allies. . . . 

I recognize that those countries have their obligations and their 
difficulties and adversities now the same as we have ; but I insist that 
there should be the best evidence of the best of faith upon the part of 
these governments in meeting their debt, and that the United States 
should insist upon that policy without equivocation or apology. 

With reference to this debt ... it is there. The evidence of it is 
there. It is a legal obligation. It is just as binding as if it were in a 
bond. It is subject to call. We may ask for it now just the same as we 
could if we had a bond and it was due. There is no possible loss. . . . 
It will be vastly to the advantage of the United States if it remains 
just as it is now until we shall have determined whether the world can 
get rid of its armaments, or whether we are to go forward over this road 
which we are now traveling, and which leads inevitably to bankruptcy 
or war, or possibly both. . . . 

So vital and so commanding is the question of disarmament I 
would utilize all the power that this great Republic can command to 
change the program relative to armaments which is now being carried 
forward; and if I could use this vast debt, if the obligations which it 
imposes could be commanded to that end, I would not hesitate to do it. 
I would be considerate, I would be courteous, to all nations, but I would 
be brutal in the exertion of all power at my command before I would 
see humanity further tortured and civilization destroyed by keeping up 
this barbarous system of crushing armaments. — From a speech by 
Senator Borah before the Senate of the United States, July 25, 1921. 

The Debts Should Be Cancelled 

Distributing the War Burdens 

It is difficult to fathom the attitude of mind current in a nation, 
which willingly renders the utmost assistance possible, comprising 
men and munitions, on one part of the war front without expecting or 



44 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

receiving any material recompense in return, yet at the same time, else- 
where on the same front, renders less assistance, in the form of ma- 
terials alone, hut in this case demands pound for pound of the cost of 
such assistance, even going so far as to charge interest until the deht 
is paid. One might imagine that the Allied nations delighted in sacri- 
ficing the lives of their own men, and were actually prepared to pay 
for this privilege, inasmuch as they charged for the costs of war only 
when the lives of their own men were not at stake. 

An American may deny that the purchase of wheat by France was 
an expense of the American Government which should in equity be 
borne by that Government, but this is nevertheless the case. France had 
millions of men under arms, which in an isolated world containing only 
France and the Central powers would have been impossible, because 
these millions of men would have starved from lack of food caused by 
the shortage of labor due to the mobilization of this vast army. But in 
the world as it actually is this huge mobilization of French troops was 
possible, because America acquiesced in the existence of this vast army 
and supplied the food and munitions necessary to keep it and France 
alive. The world was divided into two armed groups. The greater, 
which was ultimately victorious, was divided into many sections, some 
of which provided mainly men, others mainly munitions and food. Now 
that the conflict is over, one section of the group should not attempt to 
transfer part of the burden of the war already borne by it to another 
section which has already borne a greater burden. Those sections 
which have suffered least from the devastation and loss of life entailed 
by the war should, if anything, bear a correspondingly greater proportion 
of the financial burden than that borne by those crippled by the loss of 
many lives. Yet should payment of inter-Allied debts be exacted the 
very reverse will be the case. . . . 

It would be almost impossible to elaborate a scheme which would 
distribute the burden of the war equitably among the Allies. But un- 
doubtedly the most unjust way imaginable would be for the present 
creditors to extort payment of their debts from the present debtors. 
Arguments can even be adduced to show that there would be some de- 
gree of accuracy in the distribution of the war burden if all inter-Allied 
debts were converted into credits of equal magnitude. Roughly speaking, 
the debts were incurred by those countries which had the higher propor- 
tion of men under shell-fire, and were made in favor of those countries 
which were doing proportionately less fighting, and which were for this 
very reason able to supply the other material requisite to the conduct 
of war. The examples of France and America bear this out. The former 
did most fighting and is the biggest debtor, the latter did least fighting 
and is the biggest creditor. The loss of human life is approximately 
proportionate to the numbers engaged. And this loss is by far the 
greatest burden of war. . . . 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 45 

It has been said that an equitable valuation of war burdens would 
be well-nigh impossible. Yet it might be possible to make one which 
took account of work done for war purposes, of lives lost and maimed, 
of devastation, of respective populations and national dividends, of 
degrees of currency inflation, of payments received for reparation, of 
the value of mandates under the Treaty of Versailles. But, when all 
this was done, it would not be fair to open credits in accordance with 
the findings of the calculation, because allowance should also be made for 
the importance of the war to each Ally. The war should in fairness fall 
more heavily (say) on France than (say) on America, because upon the 
defeat of Germany depended the existence of France as a nation, while 
the importance to America of the defeat of Germany was less vital. 
But, in fact, the burden of the war would be still the heavier upon 
France, even if debts were cancelled, because France has suffered so 
very much more from the war, apart from the question of inter-Allied 
debts. 

When all the aspects of the question are taken into account, it 
will perhaps be the nearest approach to justice if all the debts are can- 
celled. It is true that France will still remain the greatest sufferer, but 
then she was the most vitally concerned. On the other hand, if the 
debts are left to stand as they are at present, the grossest injustice will 
be perpetrated. — R. Trouton, Economic Journal, March, 1921, pp. 43-45. 

Restoring the Purchasing Power of Europe 

The big business men especially, and financial experts like Mr. 
Hoover, see that the United States are hurt, and will be more hurt later, 
by the collapse of the European market. The wave of unemployment 
is now serious in America, and due, as they see, not a little to the col- 
lapse of the European exchanges and the lack of markets for their sur- 
plus supplies. Many of their big bankers are seriously considering the 
possibilities of wiping out their European debts, not for any sentimental 
reason but from the sheer business necessity of restoring the purchasing 
power of Europe. 

They are indeed agreed on that, as I know, and their only hesita- 
tion in carrying out such an immense act of renunciation is the diffi- 
culty — almost the impossibility — of persuading their people that it is 
the way of commonsense and self interest, as well as the way of gener- 
osity and honor. — Sir Philip Gibbs, Review of Reviews (English 
Edition), March, 1921, pp. 170, 171. 

Noblesse Oblige 

So long as Honor holds its ancient hallowed place, 
So long we stand as debtor, Europe, in thy place! 



4<"> AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

The stricken fields of France still bleed from open wounds, 
The livid sears in Flanders have not healed, 
In No Man's Land the pines still echo back the sounds 
Of crashing waves 'gainst walls that never yield, 

The smoldering ruins of humble homes, 

The graves of heroes still unknown, 

The skeleton cathedral domes, 

The drooping weed on sculptured stone, 
Still testify of priceless sacrifice for Right — 
Still signalize the meanness of unrighteous might. 

A hundred thousand sturdy sons of England's best, 
With backs against a spattered wall faced Hell ; 
As many thousand crosses plead for them at rest, 
Where yesterday they proudly fought so well. 

And thousands more, yes, millions more. 

From school and shop, from hut and hall. 

From factories' forge, from village store, 

Fast followed on, in turn to fall. 
Till every blade of grass seems drenched in blood 
And every placid stream a crimson flood. 

Along the Somme, at Ypres, Amiens, Verdun, 

On Alpine heights, in submerged wintry sea, 

Fair youth kept tryst with death, though God knows all too soon 

That justice might be sure, democracy be free. 

They counted not their lives as dear, 

They scorned to boast of what they did, 

They never doubted triumph near, 

They knew that right could not be hid. 
For Belgium, Italy, fair England, sunny France, 
Men leapt to die as maidens spring to dance ! 

And yet — great God, forgive ! — men tell of what they owe — 
Of billions due from Europe, even now — 
As if deep lines of care and withering woe 
Had not been stamped for us on her sad brow ! 

Great God forgive, great God forget, 

If ever once we think of gold — 

If in our selfishness we let 

Some tale of petty greed be told. 

So long os Honor holds its ancient hallowed place, 
So long we stand as debtor, F.urope, in thy place! 

— Francis Bourne Upham, New York Times, May 19, 1921. 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 47 

Varied Considerations with Respect to the Debt 

Settlement of the Debt Question an Extraordinary Task 

The settlement of the inter-Allied indebtedness in such a manner as 
to satisfy the fair and equitable contentions of all the parties is not 
only the most important but the most gigantic task which any body of 
statesmen ever have been obliged to wrestle with. On the successful 
solution of the question depends for many years to come the peace and 
prosperity of the entire world. It can neither be viewed as financial 
merely or as purely political ; nor can it be considered from the interests 
of any one of the different parties alone, without determining the effect 
upon all the others. 

In short, the economic rehabilitation of the world depends largely 
upon a wise and sound settlement of this puzzling problem. The Allies 
would not have won the war when they did but for the splendid spirit of 
cooperation and mutual respect and confidence then exhibited. This 
spirit seems, for the moment, to have disappeared; it must be conjured 
back before we can hope to obtain guarantees of peace and stability. — 
Paul Fuller, Jr., Forum, April, 1921, pp. 413, 414. 

A Surplus of Imports Inevitable 

If European and other countries pay their debts to the United States 
. . . the United States must have a surplus of imports rather than a 
surplus of exports as prior to the war. In fact, if the principal of the 
debt is neither increased nor decreased and only the interest is paid, 
the United States must accept a surplus of imports and have a so-called 
"unfavorable" balance of trade. That is what some call the penalty 
and what others consider the advantage of being a creditor country. 
Americans are likely to hold up their hands in horror when the flood 
of imports begins to arrive. The cry for protection may be even louder 
than it is now from some sections. But why should a country or a man 
object to having a debtor pay his debts? He must pay, if he pays at all, 
in goods or in money ; and of what use is the money unless we can pur- 
chase goods (imports) with it? — Roy G. Blakey, Ph.D., Annals of the 
American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 192 1, p. 205. 

European Debts and Armaments 

It has seemed unfair to many that we should be requested to re- 
linquish the vast debts due us while the borrowers continue to spend 
enormous sums on armaments. Preparedness in the form of armaments 
is an insurance not of peace, but of victory in the war it frequently 
invites, for the inevitable rivalry arouses apprehension, apprehension 
creates fear, and fear hatred. There is a general realization that another 
great war within a generation threatens not only the existence of na- 



48 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

tions, but the prevailing economic system as well. — Edwin M. Borehard, 
Yale Review, April, [921, pp. 524, 525. 

Settlement on Large-minded Lines 

" ["he man in the street" in America is not lacking in generosity. 
He is fully conscious of the heroism and the sacrifices of the Allies. 
He does not mean to drive a hard bargain. It is not in his nature to insist 
on his pound of flesh. He appreciates that this is no ordinary debt, 
and that it cannot he treated as if it were. Moreover, he realizes quite 
well that his own country cannot return to a state of "normalcy" until 
a reasonable approach at least to an economic equilibrium will have been 
established in Europe. He recognizes that among the prerequisites for 
that all too long delayed consummation is some kind of a settlement of 
the inter-Allied debt on large-minded and liberal lines, and American 
cooperation otherwise in the problem of European readjustment. 

He is bewildered and disillusioned, and the possibly naive faith 
which animated him has undergone a somewhat rude shock. In order 
to be predisposed toward those accommodations on America's part 
which are indispensable to a satisfactory financial settlement and to- 
ward that comprehensive and broad-gauged co-operation which the situ- 
ation calls for, he will have to become affected with the impression of 
an attitude in Europe more nearly approaching than seems to him the 
existing state of things those conceptions which he believed the Ameri- 
can nation was aiming and aiding to realize when it set out on its 
crusade to Europe in the spring of 1917. — Otto H. Kahn, in letter to 
the Times of London, quoted in New York Times,, May 1, 1921. 

Cancellation Repugnant to Americans 

It is very easy to figure out that the United States might really be 
better off in many respects, in the long run, if she would immediately 
cancel that debt and immediately begin to ship goods to Europe in the 
accustomed quantities ; but it is useless to talk of cancellation — it is not 
feasible. The thought of cancelling that debt is repugnant to the Ameri- 
can. Indeed, any political party proposing it or attempting it would be 
destroyed by the consuming wrath of the American people, ever patient, 
enduring, silent but very watchful. The American people would never 
consent to cancelling a debt owed them by imperial powers without 
some conditions being imposed with the concellation that there should 
be a very great modification of the ideals, the purposes and the methods 
of imperialism. — Senator Joseph Irwin France, Annals of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1921, p. 171. 

Payment of the Debts in Dollars 

Taking our Allied debtors as a whole, these governments which now 



CANCELLING EUROPE'S WAR DEBT 49 

owe us in the aggregate approximately ten billion dollars of principal 
and one billion dollars of accrued interest, can not procure this amount 
of dollars for purposes of repayment. . . . 

If these nations could devise ways and means of procuring the neces- 
sary dollars, the process would involve us in very serious economic 
disadvantages. ... To put Great Britain under pressure to pay in 
dollars would be to provide a powerful stimulus for Great Britain to 
constitute herself the world's carrier, the world's banker, the world's 
insurer, and one of the world's great exporters. Only by maintaining 
such a position could Great Britain effect the dollar payments which we 
contemplate. As the exertions of a capable debtor under pressure from 
his creditor are generally more effective than those of a complacent 
creditor, it is probable that the stimulus which we will thus supply will 
turn the scales against us in our own efforts to create a merchant marine 
and to establish banks and insurance companies for foreign business. 

If countries other than Great Britain were capable of paying the 
dollars which they owe us, it would be only because they could sell 
their goods cheaper than the same goods could be sold by American in- 
dustry. 

The cardinal fact for us to bear in mind is that the ten billion 
dollars wherewith the Allies could pay their obligations can be secured 
only from America. The Allies must get them from us before they can 
pay them to us; and if the Allies do secure these dollars, it will be because 
the American public is buying foreign goods and using foreign services 
when otherwise they would be using American goods and American 
services. We can, therefore, readily reconcile ourselves to the Allied 
incapacity to pay us in dollars, as such payment would be largely at the 
expense of American industry, American capital and American labor, 
all of which could not but be very seriously affected by the American 
public utilizing on a vast scale foreign goods and foreign services. 

If, therefore, the Allies owing dollars to the American Treasury 
probably can not secure the dollars wherewith to pay in full, and if it 
would be undesirable for us to permit them the opportunity to secure 
such a vast amount of dollars from the American public, we naturally 
turn to the alternative of an unconditional cancellation, in whole or in 
part, of the debts. Such a step would appear to me to be unfortunate, 
primarily because of its effect on the value of international obligations. 
Whether we should have contributed gratis the food, equipment, muni- 
tions, et cetera, now represented by the notes which we hold, is an 
academic question. We did not do so. On the contrary, the Allies 
agreed to give a quid pro quo, and have delivered to us signed obliga- 
tions to do so. If these obligations are now cancelled without our re- 
ceiving any equivalent value therefor, it establishes a precedent which 
undermines every international obligation. The credit and borrowing 
power of every nation of the world will be affected, and a powerful im- 



50 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

petus will be given to the demand of extremists that all war obligations, 
such as liberty bonds, should be wiped out. . . . 

The obligations of the Allies which we hold constitute a great trust 
to be held and employed by our government for the benefit of the Ameri- 
can people. It is not a power to be abused, any more than it is a power 
to be abandoned. It is a power which should be used in the way which 
will in the long run produce the greatest gain to the American people. 
The greatest gain is not necessarily one which can be measured by the 
yard stick of dollars and cents; nor is a gain any less valuable because it 
involves benefit rather than burden to others. 

If we would secure the greatest gain to the American people, let 
us first formulate a sound national policy. Then let us sit down in 
conference with the Allies and endeavor to secure their adhesion to 
international settlements which will render possible the carrying forward 
of our national policy. If such a settlement can be arrived at and if 
we regard their debts to us as in part discharged by the benefits which 
such a settlement would confer, this would not be an abandonment of our 
rights. Rather, we will have attained the highest form of realization. — 
John Foster Dulles, Former Financial Adviser for the Peace Conference, 
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 
1921, pp. 174-177- 



CHAPTER V 

WHAT PART SHOULD AMERICA TAKEJN 

BRINGING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC 

RECOVERY OF EUROPE? 

I, America's Problems in Relation to the Economic Situation 

in Europe 

i. Number the following in the order of their seriousness in 
causing the continuance of the economic chaos in Europe : 

a. The destructive processes of the war. 

b. The terms of the Peace Treaty. 

c. Retaliatory and restrictive trade measures. 

d. The various attempts at revolutionary economic and social 
reconstruction, such as radical socialistic movements. 

2. Is the European chaos more or less serious than was to be 
expected in view of the enormous forces of destruction let 
loose? What is the reason for your opinion? 

3. Europe made the mess. Does this free America from any 
obligation to help clean it up? Why or why not? 

4. If America had signed the Peace Treaty and had joined the 
League of Nations what particular contribution, if any, do you 
feel we might have made to the amelioration of European con- 
ditions that we have failed to make? How far is America to 
blame for what has happened since the war? 

5. If a Continental asked you the present attitude of America 
toward the economic recovery of Europe, what would you 
reply? What are the reasons for the existing attitude? 

6. To what extent should America go in endeavoring to secure 
the economic recovery of Europe? 

II. Considerations Bearing upon America's Course of Action 

A. The Possibility of Europe Getting on Her Feet Unaided. 

1. Just how badly off is Central Europe with respect to the 
necessities of life? Just what do these countries need most? 
What has Germany left on which to build? Do you expect 
that Germany may be driven to capitulate to the Bolshevik 
movement centering in Russia. 

51 



52 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

2. What is the probability that the European nations and peo- 
ples can in the near future become self-sustaining with respect 
to food supplies? 

3. Some say that the feeding of Europe's hungry folk by Amer- 
ica is essential to her economic recovery. Others say that the 
realization on the part of Europe that she is entirely dependent 
on her own endeavors would tend to hasten self-sustaining 
economic life. With which viewpoint do you tend to agree? 
Why? 

4. To what extent are the European nations dependent for 
their purchase of food upon the sale of manufactured goods to 
countries outside of Europe? What would this argue with 
respect to the promotion of trade relations ? 

5. Does or does not the temper of the needy peoples of Europe 
give hope for rapidly developing self help? Why or why not? 

6. In the light of these facts, what outside help, if any, do you 
feel Europe needs, if she is to get on her feet economically? 

B. America's Stake in Europe's Economic Recovery. 

1. What is America most solicitous about with reference to 
participation in European reconstructive efforts? 

a. Loss of our present economic primacy? 

b. Loss of investments already made? 

c. Loss of sums that might yet be advanced on credits? 

d. Misuse of funds already advanced as loans? 

e. Perpetuation of wrong social, political, and economic con- 
ditions in Europe? 

f. Dumping of European cheap manufactured goods on the 
American market? 

2. Which is for the best interests of America — a competitive or 
a cooperative trade policy in relation to Europe ? Is any other 
than a competitive policy possible under present conditions? 
If we must compete with Europe in world trade, from a posi- 
tion of purely economic self-interest should we welcome or fear 
European commercial and industrial rehabilitation? Why? 

3. Is there any way that America can escape the outreaching 
effects of the European economic chaos? How? 

C. Possibilities Open to America for Aiding Europe. 

1. What bearing do America's efforts at providing physical 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 53 

relief to suffering populations in Europe have upon this ques- 
tion of economic recovery ? 

2. Will economic help alone be sufficient? If not, what other 
kinds of help could we render that would bear on the economic 
need ? 

3. The fluctuation of money values has been a serious factor in 
the economic chaos. What, if anything, can America do to help 
stabilize the currencies of European countries? 

4. What devices are being worked out in America to extend 
credits to Europe? Would you be ready to commend these 
projects to the investing public? Why? Why not? Just what 
considerations bearing on this question seem to you to be most 
urgent ? 

5. Is or is not America's formal participation with the nations of 
Europe, either in some league of nations, or in some other in- 
strument of effective international action, essential to Euro- 
pean economic rehabilitation? 

6. Bitter-end commercial and political rivalry between European 
countries is said to be one real cause of delayed economic re- 
covery. In what ways might America help to prevent this? 
In connection with any aid given would America have a right 
to make stipulations regarding economic procedure between 
Europe's nations? 

7. There has been in America considerable sentiment against 
the resumption of trade relations with the former enemy na- 
tions. Some claim, however, that trade restrictions would se- 
riously delay the economic recovery of Europe and would 
react unfavorably even upon the Allied nations. To what ex- 
tent are normal trade relations with the former enemy nations 
essential to Europe's business prosperity? 

8. Upon the whole, if America were to aid Europe, which possi- 
bility open to her seems the most hopeful of results? 

D. Conditions America Might Lay Down. 

1. If we are to extend further credits to Europe what require- 
ments should be made as to the use of such credits? 

2. Should we insist that these credits be not used to release 
money for armaments ? What can we say regarding disarming 
to struggling nations in danger from selfish aggression on the 
part of neighboring nations? 

3. What kind of authority do you believe would be most re- 



54 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

spected and most helpful as exerted by any outside power seek- 
ing to help in reconstructing Europe's economic fabric and 
so to help in saving what of European civilization can be sal- 
vaged ? 

4. In seeking, as an outside Power, to aid in reconstructing 
European economic life which of the following will give 
America greatest promise of the effective helpfulness and in- 
fluence ? 

a. The authority of our armed forces and of our stable gov- 
ernment. 

b. Our world-wide prestige as a nation. 

c. Our part in the world war. 

d. Our enormous economic resources. 

e. Our experience in great commercial organizations ("big 
business"). 

f. Our reputation for altruism based on vast relief projects. 

g. The debts owed us by Europe. 

h. Our democratic idealism and our known self-restraint with 
respect to imperialistic tendencies. 

5. Just how potent is America's influence in Europe? 

6. Under what conditions do you feel America would be ready 
to enter whole-heartedly into reconstructive projects and en- 
terprises ? 

III. America's Course of Action 

1. The war brought America to a position of leadership in 
economic status and world trade. This position will inevitably 
be challenged by European nations, if their economic recovery 
is fully achieved. In the light of the considerations already ex- 
amined, should America at all costs seek to maintain this lead- 
ership or is a return to an approximate pre-war status desirable ? 
What ought to determine our decision? 

2. How far would enlightened self-interest suggest that Amer- 
ica go towards helping Europe economically? How far would 
genuine good will, based on Christian neighborliness, call us to 
go? Which should decide? Why? 

3. What share should America take in Europe's economic re- 
habilitation ? Just how are we to relate ourselves as a nation 
to European affairs so as to make our largest contribution in 
wise and helpful ways? 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 55 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

The Economic Situation in Europe 

Obstacles to Economic Recovery 

When the Great War ended in November, 1918, the finance, indus- 
try and commerce of every belligerent country and of most European 
neutrals were in different degrees disorganized, broken and reduced. 
The destruction of wealth and of the human and other instruments of 
production lie outside all accurate computation. But the loss of life 
in the fighting forces can hardly be estimated at less than thirteen mil- 
lions, for Europe alone perhaps twelve millions. If we add losses of 
civilian life from massacre, disease and famine, and other causes con- 
nected with the war, that figure may reasonably be doubled. Further, 
add the many millions of totally or partially disabled lives, the lowered 
vitality of whole populations, the retardation in the birth rate, and the 
quantitative and qualitative disturbance of the sex equilibrium in its 
bearing on the future population, and we get some comprehension of the 
immensity of the loss of labor power in Europe. 

The destruction of property in the war areas of Belgium, France, 
Russia, Poland, Serbia, Italy, Roumania, and parts of Austria is roughly 
computed by an American authority at thirty thousand million dollars, 
Belgium and France accounting for more than half this cost. This sum 
is probably excessive, being necessarily based upon calculations likely to 
err upon that side. But in any case agriculture, mines, factories and 
other productive instruments suffered grievously from pillage and 
destruction in the invaded countries. On a far wider scale was the loss 
of productive power in all the warring countries by the letting down of 
most forms of roads, buildings and machinery, the depletion of stocks 
in agriculture and manufacture, damage of railways and other transport, 
failure of fuel supplies, and last, but not least, the dislocation and sus- 
pension of the currency and exchange system. . . . 

The economic disease from which in different measures the whole 
of Europe is suffering has certain common symptoms. Everywhere is a 
shortage of coal, cereals, textiles, housing, transport, and international 
money. Of all these articles there is not only a national but a European 
shortage, and not only a European shortage, but a world shortage. 

When we learn the world's output of coal is 170 million tons below 
the 1913 output — a drop of over 12 per cent — and that the wheat supply 
of the world is reduced by at least 20 per cent below the pre-war supply, 
we recognize that the vital interest of every nation depends upon getting 
their share of these reduced supplies. Since every industrial European 
country depends for a considerable part of its necessary grain, and every 
country except Britain for much of its necessary coal, upon imported 



56 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

supplies, the possession of adequate international purchasing power is 
of primary importance. And it is precisely lure that the peril of the 
situation for Europe grows continually graver. Only an adequate 
possession of credit enables the more dependent countries to satisfy their 
vital needs from foreign sources. Coal and credit, the sources of in- 
dustrial and commercial power, must be utilized not along lines of most 
profitable ownership, but according to pressure of human need, if Europe 
is to escape catastrophe. 

The failure of recuperative forces is evident enough. If we ask 
what are the causes of this failure we are confronted with a morbid 
complex of economic, political, and moral factors rooted in ill-will and 
a refusal to set in operation the healing currents of cooperation. A 
brief enumeration of the principal obstacles to restoration must here 
suffice. First, the maintenance or resumption of war conditions in 
various parts of Europe after the Armistice. The retention of a close 
blockade of Germany and Austria for months after the Armistice, the 
still later blockade of Hungary, the long smouldering warfare in the 
Balkans and in Turkey; and still more injurious in its economic re- 
action, the policy of war and the blockade of Russia, at once disabling 
the internal economy of that country and depriving the rest of Europe 
of access to the largest available surpluses of some essential raw ma- 
terials; such are the main items in this count. Three distinguishable 
economic injuries are attributable to this failure to make peace: — 

1. The waste of man-power, materials, and money in maintaining 
and operating large military forces which ought to have been available 
for work of economic restoration. 

2. The fresh ravages of territory, with death, destruction and pil- 
lage, as in Hungary, Poland and Russia. 

3. The paralyzing effect of these wars and fears of wars upon the 
effort and the foresight needed for effective reconstruction. 

We next come to the evil reactions of the Peace Treaties upon the 
economy of Europe. Here the pursuance of certain political and military 
objects by the victorious Allied Governments involved the sudden forcible 
break-up of established economic systems and of commercial relations. 
At a score of different points the Peace Treaties thrust a ram-rod into 
the delicate machinery of economic intercourse, upon the maintenance 
of which the prosperity, the very lives of large populations depended. 
The tragic case of Austria severed from her agricultural and industrial 
supplies, her urban millions left to slow starvation or to insufficient 
charity, is the most terrible result of allowing politicians and soldiers to 
tamper with an economic system which they do not understand. . . . 

Some deliberately set themselves to devise elaborate means of 
weakening and retarding the economic recovery of Germany, regardless 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY $7 

of the fact that this crippling policy meant a reduction of wealth-produc- 
tion in which the whole of impoverished Europe would share, either 
by ordinary process of trade or in payment of indemnities. The libera- 
tion of the science, technique, and industry of the German people for 
early effective industry was perhaps the greatest single agency in the 
economic recovery of Europe. By the deprivation of her main supplies 
of coal and shipping, the uprooting of her foreign market, the multi- 
farious interferences with her internal economy of transport and finance, 
the Treaty of Versailles did its utmost to retard this recovery. 

But lest these injuries to the material resources of Germany should 
not suffice for this task of retardation, the Allied Governments inserted 
a moral obstacle even more disabling. By their persistent refusal to fix 
the amount of the indemnity they . . . sapped the incentive to productive 
effort in the people of Germany. 

Turning from these positive obstacles to economic restoration due 
to the refusal to make a good peace, I next arraign the Allied Govern- 
ments for failure to adapt the measures they employed for rationing food, 
coal, materials, transport, and credit, during the emergency of war, to 
the equally great emergency of the early years of peace. The League 
of Nations, which they had formally incorporated in the terms of peace, 
was an obvious instrument for this emergency organization of the vital 
resources of Europe. ... If Peace be the first condition of economic 
revival, and a League of Nations be the accepted instrument for secur- 
ing Peace, the undertaking of this task of reconstruction by an Economic 
Committee of the League would have done more than any other action 
to furnish that initial force of moral confidence which this new experi- 
ment in internationalism so urgently required. 

This failure to set about the cooperative policy of organizing the 
depleted resources of Europe for the common safety set every nation 
to devise separate and often very noxious means of dealing with its 
own commerce and finance. By tariffs, embargoes, subsidies and other 
artifices, the several Governments have striven to reduce external com- 
merce to a minimum, throwing each people as far as possible upon their 
own impaired resources and reducing the total productivity of Europe 
by diminishing the efficiency of international trade. 

This maintenance of war, blockades, and large military forces, with 
their attendant insecurity of life and property, this expensive govern- 
mental interference with industry and commerce by controls, prohibi- 
tions, subventions, and the like, have led almost all the Governments into 
further adventures in inflation of their currency, with the crippling 
effects of this financial dishonesty upon prices and the distribution of 
wealth. High taxation, rising prices, depreciated currency, fluctuations 
of exchanges, are generally disturbing influences in the internal economy 
of every country. They are directly responsible for much of the social 



58 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

unrest which continually breaks out in political revolts or industrial 
conflicts. These financial, industrial and commercial disturbances take 
shape in reduced production, much profiteering, and a distribution by 
processes of economic violence. Under such circumstances capital feels 
unsafe and saving is discouraged, foresight and business calculation are 
impracticable, and the life of whole populations is reduced to a scram- 
ble for the bare means of present subsistence. 

Finally, this failure of the European peoples to get an effective peace, 
social and political security, rising productivity and improvement of 
internal finance, has a disastrous effect upon their commercial and finan- 
cial relations with non-European nations, the owners of those surpluses 
of wealth and credit which are so urgently required to help Europe in 
restoring its broken economic system. Europe cannot restore that 
system without the liberal and continuous cooperation of America. That 
effective assistance cannot be obtained for a Europe which appears to 
be unable or unwilling to make peace, or to set herself to steady industry 
and remedial methods of currency and finance. America will not come 
in to help redress the balance of such a Europe, and the failure of such 
help is a final obstacle to Europe's economic resurrection. 

This citation of the separate obstacles to economic recovery gives 
but an imperfect picture of the paralyzing influence of their concurrent 
action. Nor does it adequately represent the general disintegration and 
enfeeblement due to the breakdown of the exchanges and the inter- 
national money famine from which the greater part of Europe is suffer- 
ing. In once prosperous countries we witness today the rapid dissolution 
of highly complex economic organisms into low forms of primitive pro- 
duction, eked out by barter. In social pathology the disease may rank 
as general paralysis, a failure to function on the part of the nerve centres 
of the economic system. 

The full extent of the danger only now appears, when the hectic 
energy and artificial prosperity left by the war have died down, leaving a 
bewildered world struggling to restore out of its broken fragments the 
delicate and complex fabric of industry, commerce and finance which 
the Great War and the Bad Peace have brought to ruin. — J. A. 
Hobson, in "The Needs of Europe: Its Economic Reconstruction," 
pp. is, 20-23. 

Marshal Foch's Opinion 

It is most likely that the United States is partly responsible for the 
present uneasiness of the world. It should have ratified the peace treaty 
with us. By keeping apart from us America has helped to promote dis- 
orders in Central Europe and prevented the establishment of the economic 
equilibrium. — Marshal Foch, quoted by Norman Hapgood in the Yale 
Review, October, 1920, p. 42. 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 59 

Europe's Need of Help 

The Break-down of European Civilization 

Excepting France and Switzerland, Continental Europe no longer 
has a clear vision of how it can and should govern itself. It no longer 
believes in any universally respected principle of authority; and in the 
dire uncertainty in which it is enveloped, it allows itself to be seduced 
easily by revolutionary frenzies, and to be drawn into crazy adventures. 
The world-war has caused the ruin of many things; but how little all 
the others count in comparison with the destruction of all principles 
of authority ! If Europe had governments of some strength and of 
recognized authority, the work of reconstruction would be easily and 
quickly done, with the tremendous resources that Western civilization 
has at its disposal. But, ruined by the war, sunk in profound destitution, 
at grips with all sorts of difficulties — political, economic, military, diplo- 
matic — caused by the war, and without governments capable of govern- 
ing, the larger part of Europe may well be involved in a long period of 
anarchy. . . . The principle of authority is the master-key of all civiliza- 
tion ; when political systems disintegrate into anarchy, civilization rapidly 
disintegrates in its turn. . . . 

Three countries are today in a relatively better condition: the 
United States, Great Britain, and France. They have won the war, 
although at fearful cost; they are richer than the others; and they have 
governments that continue to function amid the general anarchy. France 
seems especially favored, from this standpoint. She is preparing to 
reap the fruit of her century-long travail ; for she has the good fortune 
to find herself with a democratic government, which is "carrying on" 
at this extraordinary epoch, when democratic government is the only 
possible one outside of dictatorship and tyranny. 

But for this very reason, these countries should employ their wealth, 
their strength, and the comparative good order they enjoy, in assisting 
the other countries to reconstruct upon the only possible foundations 
their states and their wealth. Let them not allow themselves to be 
seduced, by the illusion of power, into isolating themselves in the rising 
flood of anarchy ! This anarchy may well result in a general disruption 
of civilization in two thirds of Europe, and it will not be long before 
they will be swallowed up in the immense void. Europe will be saved, or 
will perish, as a whole. . . . 

The political anarchy that the downfall of all principles of authority 
may let loose upon Europe today would be added to the most complete 
intellectual anarchy that Europe has ever known. Each faction, or 
group, which, in the revulsions of this anarchy, should possess itself of 
supreme power for a single day, would consider itself entitled to recon- 
struct the whole world on new principles: the state, morals, aesthetics, 
the family, and property ! Imagine the utter confusion that would 



60 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

result from such performances! — Guglielmo Ferrero, Atlantic Monthly, 
March, 1921, pp. 420, 421. 

Primary Problems 

One's first impulse upon looking into this bedlam of disease, starva- 
tion, and industrial ruin [in mid-Eastern Europe] is to throw up the 
hands in blank despair. No problem of civilization so nearly hopeless 
has ever been presented for solution to the mind of the world. Yet it 
must be solved. Time alone can solve some aspects of it. Some of 
these countries are doubtless destined to a generation or more of grind- 
ing poverty, low birth rate, high death rate, and the emigration of all 
who can or are allowed to leave. Those who remain will have to strain 
every faculty of brain and nerve and muscle in an unequal struggle 
with the grimmest kind of economic disadvantage. It is at best a sad 
and foreboding outlook. 

But the civilized world must not, cannot, now admit that it is 
helpless to aid. One thing is immediately within the power of western 
Europe and America to grant. Never in history has Patrick Henry's 
cry been so fraught with significance in human destinies — "Peace, peace, 
and there is no peace." Until these countries know that the war is 
over, that the strong civilized nations are united upon a plan for the 
preservation of peace, there can be no release from the burden of mili- 
tary preparation. Even worse, there can be no adequate step taken to 
wipe out the plague of typhus. Endemic disease under modern condi- 
tions can be fought only with the united resources of mankind, backed 
by supplies and, if need be, by military power, to enforce quarantines 
and to distribute properly the doctors, nurses, and medical supplies. 
Until typhus is eradicated, orderly progress in industry and agriculture 
alike is impossible. Sick men, starving men, dying men, are not the in- 
struments of productive labor. . . . 

The foregoing picture makes doubly plain the necessity, the urgency, 
of a league of nations. Call it what one will, organize it as may be, but 
some association of the civilized nations of the world must quickly 
be brought into being, clothed with vast authority and allowed to settle 
the primary problems of the new nations. These problems are first 
peace; second, limitation of armaments; third, the eradication of disease; 
fourth, the mining and allotment of coal; fifth, the allocation of rail- 
road rolling stock; sixth, the determination of taxation systems based 
upon a definite statement of indemnities. These things settled, the 
questions of credit, of raw materials, of the resumption of industries, 
and the finding of markets, difficult questions though they are, are not 
beyond the mentality and the energy of these peoples. 

Failing some such solution of this gigantic problem, civilization 
itself is in peril, American prosperity is likely to be a delusion, and 
our fancied isolation and immunity from the entanglements of Europe 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 61 

may prove to be a fantastic dream. — French Strother, World's Work, 
August, 1920, p. 348. 

Outstanding Necessities in Reconstruction 

This Conference considers that the conditions precedent to an 
adequate economic reconstruction of the world are: a cessation of 
military operations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, with the conse- 
quent reduction of expenditure on armaments; the cessation of all 
blockades and restrictions for purely political purposes upon economic 
intercourse ; the enlargement of the area of free trade by specific treaties 
between States, particularly those of the late Austrian, Russian, and 
Turkish Empires. . . . 

This Conference is gravely concerned with the existing financial 
situation which now shows symptoms of complete breakdown, not only 
in Russia and in the Central Powers, but in the Entente Nations as well, 
and desires to direct the attention of the peoples and Governments of 
every nation to the urgent need of cooperative measures in order to 
create the credits which Europe requires, to restart her industries and 
to restore her productive power. . . . 

This Conference is convinced that the financial danger cannot 
be overcome until measures are taken to restore production in Russia 
and to restart trade relations with that country. 

This Conference desires to record its conviction that Europe cannot 
obtain either credit guarantees or the credits themselves until the various 
nations reduce their military outlays, make a real effort to curtail their 
governmental expenditure, endeavor to restore the equilibrium to their 
budgets, and thus indicate their intention to stop the issue both of 
paper currency and of governmental loans for other than productive 
purposes. . . . 

The Conference considers that the League of Nations should itself 
act as trustee for any international loan that may be created, and for 
the expenditure of the credits obtained by such loans for productive 
purposes, and not in order to meet governmental expenses or budget 
deficiencies. 

This Conference urges the desirability of appointing an International 
Council, representative of the countries concerned, to advise as to the 
production and distribution of food, coal, and other indispensable raw 
materials, with a view to ensuring the satisfaction of vital needs and to 
securing the largest possible production throughout the world. 

This Conference is of opinion that the League of Nations can never 
be an effective instrument for reconstruction until it has admitted all 
States desirous of membership. The Conference further urges that 
having so admitted all such States, the League's first activities should 
be directed towards assisting in the economic reconstruction of the 
world by agreement, and in the provision of a Court before which all 



62 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

questions justiciable in their character may be brought for decision. — 
Resolutions adopted by the International Economic Conference called 
by the Fight the Famine Council, and held in London, October 11-13, 
1920. "The Needs of Europe: Its Economic Reconstruction," pp. 10, II. 

The Future of Continental Civilization at Stake 

To bring together the countries whose economic unity has for the 
moment been smashed into fragments, to set free the productive forces 
that are now hampered by prejudice and jealousy, to renew, restore and 
develop intercourse by road, railway and river, to facilitate trade by 
currency agreements, this is a work upon the success of which depends 
the future of Continental civilization. — Samuel Hoare, Nineteenth 
Century and After, March, 1920, p. 422. 

America's Relation to European Recovery 
America Launched in the World's Currents 

There is not a credit in Europe . . . that does not need to be weighed 
and its chance of repayment carefully appraised, but it will not do for 
America to say that she will keep her dollars at home henceforth and 
get into no further entangling foreign financial alliances. One American 
financier in Europe summed up his view of the situation by saying 
that he would advise his partners henceforth to keep very close to shore. 
My reply was that keeping close to the shore might result in having a 
hole stove in his boat. America cannot keep close to the shore. We 
are launched, whether we like it or not, in the world's currents. We 
have moral responsibilities that should and will appeal to us; but if we 
look at the situation only on the narrowest of material grounds, and 
look with clear vision, we will understand how involved is our civiliza- 
tion with the civilization of Europe, and we will comprehend what it 
will mean if by failing Europe in her hour of great need we permanently 
injure the fabric of civilization there. — Frank A. Vanderlip, "What 
Happened to Europe," pp. 98, 99. 

Conditions of American Economic Aid for Europe 

In my judgment . . . America can be induced to join whole-heart- 
edly with the European States in the common problems of rebuilding 
the economic structure of the world — on conditions. 

Among these conditions are, I believe: 

1. The cessation of imperialistic military operations. . . 

2. The revision through administration, if not by verbal modifica- 
tions, of those provisions of the Paris Treaties which have made our 
people believe that the United States would, if they ratified these docu- 
ments, be used to further the territorial and commercial ambitions of 
the Allied Powers rather than to preserve the peace or to restore the 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 63 

economic life of Europe. Foremost among these provisions are — (a) 
those dealing witn reparation, (b) those artificially thwarting the re- 
newal of economic intercourse. 

3. Such modifications in the Covenant as (a) the immediate ad- 
mission to the Council and to the Assembly of Germany and of the 
other former enemy States, (b) strengthening of the mandate provision 
in such a way as to make certain that the nations holding mandates may 
not use them for selfish nationalistic purposes. 

I do not say that America's full cooperation in the work of recon- 
struction is contingent with the technical acceptance of each and all 
of these terms. But what she has a right to require as the price of 
her full participation is the purification of the Paris settlement and the 
rectification of the worst features of the post-war arrangements as the 
only guarantee that "the peace of victors" has become an instrument 
capable of restoring the industrial life of the world. 

If you here in Britain can induce your Government to throw the 
full weight of its influence in favor of these modifications, you will 
make our task of persuading America to come into the European settle- 
ment infinitely easier. America cannot live alone, does not want to live 
alone. If we can be persuaded that the war is in fact over, that our 
assistance will not be used primarily to maintain British, French or 
Italian ascendance; if we can know that your efforts will go towards the 
upbuilding of European life everywhere, then, and only then, the spirit 
of idealism which uplifted our people in 1917 and 1918 may again be 
roused, and this time lead us to throw our full strength into the work 
of reconstruction. — J. G. MacDonald, in "The Needs of Europe: Its 
Economic Reconstruction," p. 117. 

How America Can Aid 

The world today looks to the United States as the one solidly forti- 
fied nation in the realm of finance and trade. No other country has to 
a like extent the great power needed to meet the present emergencies. 
This fact is receiving general and a constantly extending degree of 
recognition in our own country. We have come to realize thoroughly 
that Europe must have food, raw materials and machinery before she 
can hope to return to normal health in finance and trade, and that 
she must have a considerable time extended to her before she can pay 
for these products. We recognize that this implies thrift and the 
saving of investment funds in large amounts here in order that they 
may be available in rehabilitating the industries of Europe. 

Many now see that depreciated exchange can be restored only 
through Europe's resumption of normal production and exporting. We 
know that great markets for our own raw products are now stagnant 
because of idle factories in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere. Fur- 



64 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

thermore, markets in South America and the Orient, which would other- 
wise be absorbing our manufactured products continuously, are stricken 
for the same reason. Their products, wheat and wool, hides and skins, 
and metals, which normally are in urgent demand in Europe, move but 
slowly. The whole intricate machinery of world trade is clogged by the 
prostration of economic life in the countries so seriously devastated by 
the war. This economic life must be quickened promptly. 

Since the armistice, the minds of men in all parts of our country 
have had time to comprehend the course of events and the meaning and 
needs of the present critical period. As with the war itself, full realiza- 
tion has been slow in spreading among the people. It is by no means 
universal now. Leaders do exist, however, and others, with the inter- 
national outlook, will no doubt be effective in stimulating the action that 
seems to be required. There are evidences of clear recognition of the 
demands of the situation in many quarters. . . . 

In the South, the cotton interests are preparing to sell their product 
abroad and to finance sales by long-term loans through corporations or- 
ganized under the new Edge Act. Most significant of all is the . . . 
meeting in Chicago, where a powerful group of bankers decided to or- 
ganize a one hundred million dollar corporation under the same Act. This 
. . . corporation is to be devoted specifically to promoting foreign trade 
by means of long-term investment loans. Large as will be the corpora- 
tion that is planned, and its resources would imply operations involving 
more than one billion dollars in credits, it will not be too large for the 
urgent present demands. 

The method by which credits will be established is simple enough, 
although the problem of selecting acceptable collateral abroad for loans 
is one that will require high technical skill and sound judgment Such 
loans as may be made will be in the form of dollar credits in American 
banks, available to pay for goods exported to the borrowers. 

The question as to how far the investing public will absorb the 
debentures based upon this collateral of foreign securities and other 
properties still remains to be answered. The answer will depend 
largely upon how thoroughly the American people understand that 
their own prosperity is involved in such a movement. It is encour- 
aging to note that the subscriptions to the New Orleans Edge Law 
corporation have been promptly made and are ample in amount. 

The strength of the banking interests behind the Chicago plan should 
inspire confidence. When the public understands that the proposed in- 
vestments abroad will, in effect, act as a priming to force into full action 
the now halting machinery of world trade, immediately creating markets 
for stocks that are now moving slowly or not at all, there should be a 
country-wide response when subscriptions for Edge Law debentures are 
offered. Every class — merchant, manufacturer, farmer and laborer — 
should be interested. 



HELPING EUROPE'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY 65 

This method of aiding Europe partakes in no way of the character 
of charity. This form of help is sane, self-respecting and businesslike, 
and is apparently the most effective way by which manufacturers and 
merchants abroad may obtain the equipment and supplies that will per- 
mit them, in due time to liquidate their debts here in full. — Francis H. 
Sisson, Vice-President, Guaranty Trust Company of New York, Annals 
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 192 1, 
pp. 151-153- 
Setting Ourselves to the Task of Cooperation 

If we intend to remain in the society of the world, which is the 
only conceivable choice, then we should set ourselves intelligently to the 
task of cooperation. Securities representing European obligations will 
be best offered to our people through corporations formed in this coun- 
try, which will assume the investigation of the foreign offerings, with 
the performance of whatever acts are necessary to safeguard the invest- 
ments after they are made, and which will put up a reasonable margin 
of their own capital as an additional guaranty. Such corporations can 
distribute the risks, on the principle of insurance, their own obligations 
representing varied investments, as each bond represents mortgages 
upon many farms. . . 

The plan of operations proposed by all of these corporations is that 
of first investing their own capital in foreign securities, and then pledg- 
ing these securities in the hands of responsible trustees, as the basis of 
their own bond issues. The purchaser thus will buy the obligations of 
an American corporation, backed by a deposit of foreign securities, 
with the additional protection furnished by the capital of the American 
corporation. . . . 

Of course there will be people who will say that we have no credit 
to spare for Europe, and that securities based upon foreign obligations 
cannot be sold in this country. That was said two years ago, and we 
have actually granted something like $4,000,000,000 of credit in foreign 
trade since then. It is evident that we cannot go on granting credit for 
all kinds of purchases and upon mere book accounts, which in the end 
throw the exporters back upon the banks. But we have idle shops, 
idle workmen and bursting granaries, and when it is recognizedUhat the 
loans which we are asked to make will represent labor which otherwise 
will be unemployed and surplus products which otherwise cannot be sold, 
the proposal will be seen in a different light. We may lose enough by 
the demoralization of industry to have put Europe on its feet. We are 
impelled by our own interests to aid the recovery of Europe. There 
never was a better demonstration of the great truth that the economic 
law and the moral law are in complete harmony. — George E. Roberts, 
Vice-President, National City Bank of New York, American Review of 
Reviews, May, 1921, p. 513. 



CHAPTER VI 

ARE THE EUROPEAN LOYALTIES OF OUR 

COSMOPOLITAN POPULATION A MENACE 

TO AMERICA ? 

I. The European Connections of America's Immigrant Popu- 

lation 

i. What are some of the storm centers of Europe concerning 
which there are agitation and propaganda in this country? 

2. What influences are being brought to bear upon immigrants 
by the countries of origin to keep them interested in political, 
social, and economic movements in Europe? 

3. What seems to be the present attitude of European govern- 
ments toward the assumption of American citizenship by their 
nationals ? 

4. In what ways, if any, should the apparent efforts on the part 
of some of our immigrant population to maintain dual alle- 
giance be considered a source of concern to the United States? 

II. The Effects of the Connections of Immigrants 

1. What interests in Europe has America resulting from the 
great migrations from European countries to the United 
States? 

2. When immigrants transfer their residence to America, do 
they transfer their loyalty to this country? Would you feel 
that it is safe to generalize on this point? What evidence have 
you growing out of your own experience and observation bear- 
ing upon this? 

3. When the World War broke out, what European nationalities 
were most loyal to their former European origins? How did 
they manifest this loyalty? What problems, if any, did this 
make for America ? 

4. What contribution to the welfare of their national groups 
in Europe have immigrants to this country felt that they could 
and should make? How has this affected their American loy- 
alty, if at all? Has it been helpful, or otherwise, to the Euro- 
pean countries concerned? Would you like to see immigrant 
groups in America help Europe's economic rehabilitation by 

66 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 67 

sending large sums from their savings to relations and friends 
in the lands of their origin? 

5. What bearing, if any, does allegiance to overseas ecclesiastical 
organizations and authorities have upon the acceptance by our 
immigrants of basic American ideals? 

6. It is held that we already have such a large percentage of 
foreign-born people that no matter how much we now restrict 
immigration we are bound continually to be involved in Euro- 
pean struggles because of the strong sympathies of our present 
cosmopolitan population. What do your observations and 
study lead you to believe in regard to this? 

7. What bearing have the European connections of our immi- 
grant population upon America's possibilities of isolation? 

8. By and large, what advantages and what disadvantages have 
come to America as the result of the European connections of 
her cosmopolitan population ? 

III. The Attitudes Americans Should Take 

1. What stand should a loyal American take with reference to 
overseas sympathies and loyalties of our people of European 
birth? 

2. Do you feel that incoming immigrants can and ought com- 
pletely to disassociate themselves from old world political, so- 
cial, and cultural relationships, as part of the process of Ameri- 
canization? If they cannot, or at any rate do not, do so, what 
bearing will this fact be likely to have on American foreign 
relationships ? 

3. Just what attitude toward old world cultures and affairs would 
you like to see immigrants in America take ? How would you 
go about trying to get these immigrants to take that attitude? 
Why? Would your method be likely to succeed? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

America's Immigrants and Their European Connections 

America an Instrument of European Nationalistic Wishes 

Members of the "oppressed and dependent" nationalities of Europe 
bring to America forms of the Freudian "baffled wish" and of the "in- 
feriority complex." They are obsessed by the idea of the inferior 
status of their group at home, and wish to be a nationality among other 
nationalities. Their organizations here seek to make America a re- 



68 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

cruiting ground for the battle in Europe. Consequently they wish first 
of all to save their members from Americanization, to send them home 
with unspoiled loyalty, or to keep them a permanent patriotic asset 
working here for the cause at home. They regard America as merely 
the instrument of their nationalistic wishes. Their leaders wish also to 
get recognition at home for their patriotic activities here, and superior 
status on their return. They speak of the penetration of America by 
their own culture. ... At the same time the material position of the 
leaders of these groups — the editors, bankers, priests — depends on keep- 
ing the group un-American. We find that the aims of these nationalists 
are often more explicitly and naively stated in communications sent to 
Europe than in their American publications. . . . 

Another group of political idealists, embittered against the social 
order represented by the state and by private property, perhaps dis- 
gusted with humanity, are the propagandists of some revolutionary 
scheme — Bolshevism, Anarchy, Communism — for the redistribution of 
values. They continue in this country a struggle against organized so- 
ciety which they had been carrying on at home. They bring here and 
exploit grievances and psychoses acquired under totally different con- 
ditions.— Robert E. Tark and Herbert A. Miller, "Old World Traits 
Transplanted," pp. 92-94, 96, 97, 99, 100. 

Foreign Control of American Immigrants 

Before the war, Europe, prosperous, powerful and sure of its fu- 
ture, was content to have millions of its emigrants go to America to 
help build a greater America, in the belief that when an emergency call 
came they would return home. The war revealed to European nations 
how great in men and resources and in ambition and power was this 
country which they had helped to build. It also revealed to them the 
great difficulty of holding the allegiance of their own immigrants 
when once they had learned our language, had acquired new homes and 
citizenship, and had invested their savings in the United States. 

Necessarily, then, Europe, so sorely in need as it is today of money 
and markets, savings and leadership, and so insecure as to future peace, 
while it favors the emigration of its people to relieve the economic 
strain, however, is not greatly in sympathy with assimilation or Ameri- 
canization of her emigrants in immigration countries. Rather is she 
bent upon a policy of race separation by which each country not only 
hopes, but will eventually plan, to keep its nationals united wherever all 
immigrants are urged to become citizens. 

The first step in the future immigration policy of Europe is to en- 
courage all residents belonging to the minor nationalities in any given 
country to emigrate. This is best exemplified in the movement to expel 
Hungarians from Czecho-Slovakia and Jews from all European coun- 
tries. This, in addition to economic pressure, explains the great rush 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 69 

toward the United States and to other immigration countries. The new 
immigrants are refugees, not only from the war, but also from the new 
European policy by which each country wishes to keep its racial strain 
pure. In case of future wars, each European nation will try to lessen 
the risk of disloyalty or treason from within, for each realizes that there 
may come a time when it may eventually stand alone, dependent wholly 
upon itself. . . . They think now not so much in terms of peace 
as of future wars, and plan accordingly. 

The second step by European nations in this policy of race separa- 
tion, as opposed to the American policy of assimilation, is the recall of 
nationals which began soon after the war had ended. This recall has 
two objects in view: first, to obtain information at first hand concerning 
the immigration country, its resources and opportunities, and to benefit 
by the immigrant's knowledge and savings; second, to infuse him with 
a new sense of nationalism and devotion, in order to further the fiscal 
and industrial plans of his native country. 

The third step in this policy is the encouragement of emigration 
and its control after arrival in the new country. . . . Foreign nations 
mean to control the interests of these immigrants in new countries in 
the following ways: 1. They mean to protect them and win their 
gratitude. . . Many countries have already enlarged the powers of 
their consulates in the United States to protect their immigrants; and 
they are supporting societies and homes and movements to look after 
their nationals. ... 2. They mean to control the interests of their im- 
migrants by obviously advancing their economic interests, by securing 
in advance concessions of free land, farm equipment, commercial oppor- 
tunities and investments. 3. They mean to exercise this control through 
education, by means of the establishment of schools, and by supporting 
the foreign language press through advertising, and by fostering the 
establishment of cultural societies; all for the purpose of perpetuating 
the language, ideals, culture and interests of the native land of the immi- 
grants. They mean to promote such control through commercial or- 
ganizations and to use intelligently their nationals in trading companies 
to advance the sale of goods in the United States and to help them to 
secure new markets. . . . They mean, at least, to consider the advisability 
of giving their nationals abroad representation in the home country. 
Thus we may see presently the racial societies in this country selecting 
such representatives to attend conventions and sittings in the native 
country. 

To accomplish all this, foreign nations will, therefore, favor the 
establishment of immigrant banks, and of branch banks in immigration 
countries where the native language is spoken, thus to stimulate the 
transmission of money home and of investments in the homeland. They 
believe that if the pocket-book of the immigrant can be safely tied to 
the homeland all will be well. 



;o AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Should the carrying out of these plans be less successful in some 
immigration countries than in others, European nations will then divert 

their emigrants to the more favorable countries. Kranccs Kellor, Annals 

of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 1921, 
pp. 303 305. 

America's Inheritance op Europe's Oppression Problems 

In America we have inherited all the oppression problems of 
Europe and <mt of them we are trying to build up a cooperating democ- 

1 .i< v 111 u lui li men may rise to their lull hum. in dignity. ■ . . The foreign 

born will never Eorget the laud of their origin and their responsibility 

for it so long as injustice prevails there; the identification of America 

with the problems of Europe, therefore, is so 1 lose thai we can not escape 

our share in the responsibility however much we may wish. There can 

he no real Americanization of the immigranl unless there is a real 

league Of nations, as the Symbol of a real organization which will sub- 
stitute in Europe a reign of justice for the reign of immorality. The 
isolation of America is pure illusion. The only way it can be regained 
is by identifying ourselves with a democratic reorganization of Europe. 
if an unjust domination is imposed on Germany, the many millions 
of German stock in America will gradually and inevitably develop a 

political solidarity such as they never Knew before. 

Most of the nations of Kurope have only one or two international 
problems, bul we have every one of tin- problems of all the nations 

within our borders. To deny or overlook this is to pull down over our 
own heads the pillars upon which rest our political and social structures. 
No country in Kurope is so dependent on just relationships as is the 
United States. Fifty per cent of the Irish, twenty per cent of the Poles, 
and B large percentage Of all the other long oppressed peoples are in 
America and constitute from one-third to two-thirds of the population 
Of many of our leading centers. 

The Eoreign born need a renewal of the faith that has been waning 
— faith in the freedom and democracy of America - to obtain which they 
came to these shores. Through what those who came here told their 
oppressed kinsmen in Kurope, the latter came to look to America for 
salvation, and through them the real purpose of America may still be the 

salvation of Kurope. To discriminate against those who are living 

among us means a perpetuation in America of the hatreds of the past 
in Europe. We must devise a political science and social practice which 
will give them the self expression here that sell determination aims to 

give in Europe. 

lust as finally the American authorities tried to mobilize the atti 
ludes of the immigrants lor purposes of war, so they must mobilize them 
for peace. Foolish and frantic methods of Americanization should yield 

to the realisation that we are dealing with a psychological and moral 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 71 

problem, and that a league of nations is potential in the United States. 
If we could organize the representatives of the countries of Europe who 
are in America behind a program for a reconstructed world, we should 
have an instrument for world-order whose potentiality can not be 
measured. Instead, we hide our heads in the sand and think to make 
them forget by teaching them English ! 

There is no panacea for dealing with the immigrant simpler than 
that required for the whole world. And the existing deep-seated 
psychoses can be cured only through a long process of time. We must 
deal as wise physicians with a soul-sick people for whose trouble we 
have no responsibility but who have become an integral part of our lives. 

The spirit and method of Americanization must be part and parcel 
of the solution of the problems of Europe. The relations of groups, both 
in conflict and in cooperation, is the paramount issue of human society. 
If we can learn even a few of the laws underlying the conflicts of 
groups we shall make rapid progress where we have been blindly grop- 
ing. In the meantime, however, all these problems will resist solution 
until there is a just reorganization of Europe. Only when the ideals 
of democracy have removed the possibility of imperialistic exploitation 
will there be no longer a need for chauvinism to combat it. America 
can not save herself unless Europe is saved. Whether we will or not, 
our immigrants make the world-problem our problem, and the problem 
primarily one of psychology. — Herbert Adolphus Miller, Ph.D., Profes- 
sor of Sociology, Oberlin College, Annals of the American Academy of 
Political and Social Science, January, 1921, pp. 142-144. 

The Effects of the Connections of Immigrants 

Nationalistic Sentiments as a Social Stimulant 

A number of elements enter into the nationalistic sentiments of the 
immigrant: (1) the idealization of home conditions, natural in one who 
is absent; (2) the desire to aid the struggle for self-determination going 
on at home; (3) the desire to gain recognition at home, preparatory to 
a return; (4) the wish to improve his status in the eyes of the 
American public by improving the status of the national group; (5) the 
feeling of non-participation in American life which leads to the attempt 
to create here a situation in which he can participate. All these senti- 
ments stimulate participation in public life, some of them participation 
in American life. The form taken by the movement in the different 
groups depends on the character of their historical experiences. — Robert 
E. Park and Herbert A. Miller, "Old World Traits Transplanted," p. 142. 

The Immigrant an International Person 

Students of international affairs see little hope for the successful 
maintenance of any policy which does not recognize that the adult 



AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

immigrant is an international person and an importanl pawn in the 
future contest among nations for economic supremacy. Such students 
point out that conditions and influences which surround the immigrant 

before he leaves his home land will continue to affect him as powerfully 
as do those which environ him in America. The adult immigrant, even 
if he would, can scarcely he without ties and interests in both countries. 
America, of all greal immigration countries, alone, seems to have dis 
counted the fact that the immigrant is the product of his heredity as 
well as of his new environment, and is thus the mutual possession of 
two nations; and that, while his duty may be to the one, his srntiment 
may he with the other. 

It requires no sacrifice of American pride or of independence to 
perceive that the immigrant cannot be separated from the habits, tastes, 
tendencies and remembrances of his home land. There will be little 
disagreement upon the principle that America, unaided, must decide who 
and how many shall enter, and who shall be permitted to remain. But, 
at the same time, it must also he admitted that the country of origin has 
a similar right to say who and how many shall leave, and what countries 
will be favored in the distribution of its emigrants. — Frances Kellor, 
"Immigration and the Future," pp. 20, 21, 

Racial Organizations i\ the United States 

Americans have now to consider, not so much the safeguarding of 
the freedom of the individual immigrant to express his beliefs as they 
have to question the right of his organization to take formal action 
with regard to his beliefs, which in turn may affect the current and 
progress of political affairs in the native country of the immigrant. 

In a country where there is a foreign language press of many hun- 
dreds of publications with a considerable circulation abroad, the use of 
such a press in one country for political propaganda affecting another 
country becomes of considerable interest. 

When racial organizations, with great financial resources, with a 
powerful press, with ambitious leaders, and with a far-reaching racial 
economic system, undertake to influence or settle affairs in another coun- 
try, a situation is created which sooner or later must result in misunder- 
standing. For instance, a recent issue of a Hungarian paper published 
in America, which has a circulation of 4,000 copies weekly in Budapest, 
was confiscated and distribution denied to it. because of articles which 
it contained attacking the native government. 

The changing character of these racial organizations which may 
be so used in immigration countries is also of importance. Before the 
war, their activities in immigration countries were largely humanitarian; 
while now they are becoming largely economic. It is the consulate, the 
foreign chamber of commerce, the branch of a foreign bank, the trading 
corporation and similar organizations which are now taking up the 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 73 

protection ami direction of the immigrant's affairs in America. Ami 
the immigrant home, the information bureau, the racial society, and 
similar humanitarian organizations, if not changed or superseded, will 
at least become tributary to these more efficient economic institutions. — 
Frances Kellor, "Immigration and the Future," p. 87. 

Immigrants and American Industry 

The total cost of immigration turnover to American industry can 
not be as yet estimated. 

Who can estimate, for instance, the cost to American industry of 
training aliens up to a point of efficiency in production and organization 
methods, and then have them return as competitors to Europe? Who 
can estimate what it will cost American industry, which receives the 
inexperienced peasant from Europe, undernourished by the war, to con- 
vert him into a well-conditioned, experienced workman ; and then return 
him to Europe to produce goods in competition with American products? 
Who can foresee what it will cost American business to receive. . . . 
immigrants . . . , teach them American methods, American technical 
skill, American ideals, the English language; and then have half of 
them, or more, return to their native land in an unfriendly and un- 
sympathetic attitude towards American business and towards the country, 
and with the bulk of their savings from American wages in their 
pockets? 

There are some who believe that American business is under obliga- 
tion to make such a post-war contribution to Europe. Granting this, 
would it not be well for the American business man to know, not only 
that this is a contribution to Europe, but also what it costs? Then, if 
he continues so to contribute, it would be because he was willing to do 
so and in full confidence that he was doing it in a businesslike manner. 
Only by complete knowledge, and by the adoption of business principles 
in all of our immigration undertakings, will the avoidance of resentment 
in our future commercial relations with foreign nations be made possible. 
— Frances Kellor, Annals of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science, January, 1921, pp. 206, 207. 

Directing European Affairs from America 

Shall the troubles of Europe be settled in America? Shall each 
racial group organize and assist in the direction of the affairs of its 
native country? This question has been brought to the fore by the war, 
which has stimulated nationalism among all races and thus strengthened 
solidarities in many. It is but natural, then, to inquire if the immigrants 
who have given so much in order that their native countries will be 
free and independent, will not come to the United States prepared to 
use their utmost effort to see that in the future the results for which 



74 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

they fought so heroically are assured. When the return of King Con- 
stantino to the throne is a more burning question to Greeks in America 
than is the election of a President of the United States, and when this 
discussion is at its height at the same time that an American election is 
in progress, grave doubts necessarily must he raised in the minds of 
Americans regarding assimilation. When Albanians in America, many 
of whom have come to stay, are more divided into factions over con- 
ditions in the home country than they are united on their future here, 
such doubts are strengthened. An inventory of racial solidarities, their 
aims and activities, would help very much to set our doubts at rest, and 
to stimulate us to greater and more intelligent activity upon assimilation. 
Many inquirers can not see how America is to he kept free of inter- 
national entanglements if a large section of its population, through its 
own subterranean channels, is assuming the direction of affairs in 
Europe. They foresee the time when there will be a division of opinion 
upon the attitude to be taken by the country as a whole. — Frances Kel- 
lor, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
January. u)Ji, pp. JoS. Jtx). 

Bohemians. Slovaks anh Poles as Types 

The war and the rise of the Czecho-Slovak Republic affected the life 
of the Czecho-Slovak immigrant in America in many ways. For one 
thing, there is now considerable contact between Bohemians and Slovaks 
here. Formerly, though they were closely akin and cherished theoretical 
feelings of friendship and brotherly love for each other, these two 
groups led separate lives. . . . The war gave rise to a number of power- 
ful organizations which are still in existence now that their principal 
raison d'etre is over. The Bohemian National Alliance was organized 
at the end of 1014 and before the armistice came it had hundreds of 
local branches. Its total collections were considerably more than a 
million dollars. The Catholics organized themselves much later and 
the National Alliance of Bohemian Catholics was never as strong and 
never collected such large amounts as the older body. The Slovaks 
established their Slovak League some years before the war, but it was 
a weak body and even during the first years of the war it did not exert 
as much influence over the Slovaks as did the Alliance over the Bo- 
hemians. By 1918 it grew to include the great mass of the Slovaks in 
America. Catholics as well as Protestants. There was during the war 
no separate Catholic organization of the Slovaks. 

The purpose of these bodies was primarily to finance the campaign 
for Czecho-Slovak independence and to influence public opinion in Amer- 
ica in favor of it. When independence was gained toward the end of the 
war, the organizations continued in existence; at first occupied princi- 
pally in collecting funds for relief work, later in placing themselves 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 75 

gradually on a peace basis. — Jaroslav F. Srnetanka, Consul, Czecho- 
slovak Republic, Chicago, Annals of the American Academy of Political 
and Social Science, January, 1921, pp. 150, 151. 

The impatient Americanizers, in their patriotic zeal, appear to 
forget that the most characteristic trait of every Pole is his intense 
patriotism which makes it impossible to ever forget his mother country 
and his mother tongue out of pure gratitude for the new adopted coun- 
try. Many thousands of Poles joined the American army in the last 
conflict and bought Liberty Bonds, but the same Poles have been so much 
Russianized, Prussianized and Cermanized during the last century and 
a half, that they absolutely refuse to become Americanized by com- 
pulsion. . . . 

It is perfectly clear to everybody that the descendants of the per- 
manent Polish residents in the United States will become as thoroughly 
assimilated and an integral part of this nation, as do descendants of 
other immigrants. But, as all others are conscious of their foreign 
origin and deep in their hearts harbor a sincere sympathy for the land 
of their ancestors, so it will be with the Americans of Polish descent. 
Before its resurrection, Poland used to call the Polish group in the 
United States its "Fourth Part," the three others being those under 
Russia, Germany and Austria. This group of over three million Poles 
is a sufficiently strong link to bind the two sister republics forever. — 
Julian Korski Grove, Polish Consulate General, Bureau of Statistics, 
New York, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science, January, 1921, pp. 155, 156. 

The Attitude Americans Should Take 
Our Democracy Should Be Self-Protective 

The world knows the principles of justice that we have always main- 
tained; because of these, thousands of oppressed peoples seeking liberty 
and happiness have flocked to our shores to make their home among us 
as citizens. While they have materially aided in our unprecedented de- 
velopment they have also brought us new and grave responsibilities. 
These responsibilities make it incumbent upon us to see that our democ- 
racy is self-protective. . . . 

We have no quarrel with Americans of foreign birth or stock who 
cling to the music, the art, the folklore and the better traditions of the 
old land. They would be less than human, and we would be poorer, if 
they didn't; and we recognize our obligation to all these. We want all 
to know that America is an inspiration, that it is something spiritual, a 
goal toward which we aim. 

If we bring together people from different lands, of different creeds 
and varied conditions, and merge them into one America, the product 



76 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

will be the greatest of all nations and a race that will long hold a com- 
pelling place in the world. 

But we do object to the foreign-born citizen who attempts to decide 
American questions for a foreign reason. Whether he be of German 
lineage and proposes to determine American policy because of German 
prejudices, or whether he be Irish, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, who 
seeks for similar reasons to decide upon American questions, I bitterly 
resent the abuse of American citizenship or residence for the purpose of 
political or warlike propaganda in foreign countries. Under no guise 
can this country be made the breeding place for intrigue. — General John 
J. Pershing, address at meeting of the American Legion, Madison Square 
Garden, New York City, March 18, 1921. 

Alien Sentiments Should Be Respected 

A foreigner is an individual who has been removed from his normal 
native environment with its customs, language, aspirations, folk ideals, 
racial and national loyalties, economic adjustment and legal control 
and placed in a new environment which he has neither the means nor 
the power to understand. It would be a remarkable mentality that would 
honestly accept American life unchallenged and it would be a dangerous 
and dishonest alien who would pretend to know and love this country 
without going through a long and painful process of assimilation. Dur- 
ing the war we were more willing to accept the pretense of Americanism 
than to accept the honest challenge of the unassimilated to prove the 
high qualities of American life as superior to the life of the home 
country. . . . The Americanization movement centered its attention 
upon the making of legal citizens without regard to the essential require- 
ments of intelligent citizenship. I have always had more respect for the 
alien who refuses to accept American citizenship before he is ready for 
it than for the man or woman who seeks such citizenship not as a prize 
for service but as a protection against suspicion. A foreign government 
that would compel any American to deny his allegiance to this country 
as the price of enjoying the privilege of residence would be looked 
upon with scorn by America. Do we owe less to other governments in 
our relation to their citizens? . . . The weaving of national and racial 
characters of the alien into the fabric of American civilization is the real 
task of Americanization. If we refuse to accept this doctrine we should 
close our doors to the immigrant or exclude him from ever becoming a 
part of this country's national life. — Carol Aronovici, Ph.D., Annals of 
the American Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 1921, 
P- 137- 

No "Lording it" Over Immigrants 

I realize at every moment that American society does not feel any 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 77 

need of my or any other "foreigner's" cooperation, is in general perfectly 
satisfied with itself, and perfectly able to manage its own future in ac- 
cordance with its own desires, to create all the values it wants without 
having any "imported" values "thrust upon it." In analyzing the evo- 
lution of my attitudes toward this country, it seems to me that much 
of my growing criticism and dissatisfaction with American conditions 
has been due to the gradual realization of this self-complacency of 
American society. ... In France, in Germany, in Italy, in Poland, 
this attitude manifests itself toward other national groups, but not 
toward individual foreigners when they come to live and work in the 
country. On the contrary, I have experienced myself, during my travels 
abroad, ... an attitude which I may call "intellectual hospitality," a 
tendency to learn, to appreciate, and to utilize whatever values the for- 
eigner may bring with him, unless, of course, he brings nothing but un- 
skilled labor. No European society I know acts as if it possessed and 
knew everything worth while and had nothing to learn, whereas this is 
precisely the way American society acts toward a foreigner as soon as 
he ceases to play the role of a passing "curiosity" and wants to take an 
active part in American life. I do not think most Americans realize 
how revolting to a more or less educated immigrant is their naive atti- 
tude of superiority, their astonishing self-satisfaction, their inability 
and unwillingness to look on anything foreign as worth being understood 
and assimilated. This may work with the peasant who is used in the old 
country to attitudes of superiority on the part of the higher classes, is 
desirous of imitating them, and finds in this country exactly the same 
atmosphere, only connected with an unknown language and unknown 
institution which make real imitation more difficult. But I believe . . . 
that the unanimously critical standpoint taken toward this country by 
all, even if only half educated and socially dependent immigrants, and 
their universal attachment to and idealization of the "old country" values, 
are provoked by this "lording it over" the immigrant, his traditions, his 
ideals, by this implicit or explicit assumption that Americanization neces- 
sarily means progress, that the immigrant should simply leave all he 
brought with him as worthless stuff — worthless, at least, for this country 
— and instead of trying to introduce the most valuable elements of his 
culture into American life and select the most valuable elements of 
Americanism for himself, should merely accept everything American 
just as it is. 

In the same line, and perhaps even more revolting for the reflecting 
foreigner who comes with the idea of working and settling in this coun- 
try, is the current tendency of American society to interpret the relation 
between the immigrant and America as that of one-sided benefit and one- 
sided obligation. This is again an attitude which I have never met in 
Europe, though European countries are incomparably more crowded 
than America. — From a manuscript autobiography of a Polish "intel- 



;8 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

lectual," quoted by Robert E. Park and Herbert A. Miller, in "Old 
World Traits Transplanted," pp. io<), no, in. 

Our Suspicion of De-Ameiucanization 

Americanization, . . . like every essential and effective change of 
nationality, involves two distinct processes and two vital decisions in 
a man's life: a divesting one's self of a deep-rooted patrimony of ideas, 
sentiments, traditions, and interests, and an honest and whole-hearted 
acceptance of, and participation in, an entirely new set of ideas, senti- 
ments, traditions, and interests. . . . 

Think how suspicious we are of any instance of de- Americanization ; 
how suspicions, for instance, to the popular mind is the Anglicization, not 
only of a Waldorf Astor, but even of a Henry James, and, generally, how 
taboo is the man who "turns." Or let us illustrate the process on a large 
scale as being nearer to our own problem: let us suppose that the 
French government, or a large section of the French people, had decided 
to attempt to Gallicize our boys of the A. E. F. while they were in 
France, and had made a nation-wide "drive" to accomplish it in five years, 
at the end of which time any of our men who said they wished to change 
would have been admitted to French citizenship. Will any American 
claim that this would have worked at all, or that the French citizens thus 
secured would have been much of an asset or a help to the French 
nation ? I do not give this as a parallel example to the process of 
Americanizing our immigrants ; but I do contend that, on the whole, 
the Gallicization of a million picked American youths, at a time of tense 
and stirring life, would have been infinitely easier and more possible 
than to convert a million mixed Syrian, Russian, Greek, Slav, and Finnish 
peasants — or even French, British, and Italian subjects — into reliable 
American citizens, as we claim we can do in this country. — Gino 
Speranz, Atlantic Monthly, February, 1920, pp. 264, 265. 

The Formation of Sound Public Opinion Needed 

There are many who view with some alarm the existing racial 
solidarities in America and the arrival of new immigrants. They ask 
whether they will bring with them the racial hatreds of Europe, and 
whether they will come already committed to work for this party or that 
one in Europe. They also inquire whether in the transfer of factional 
difference, existing among the races abroad, and in the stimulation by 
these newly arrived immigrants of political activities on foreign affairs, 
the immigrant in America will not create miniature political republics 
which are a replica of those abroad. And if so, they further ask what 
will the effect be upon the one great Republic from which they derive 
their support. . . . 

These inquirers cannot see how America is to be kept free of inter- 
national entanglements if a large section of its population through its 



LOYALTIES OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS 79 

own subterranean channels is assuming the direction of affairs in Europe. 
They foresee the time when there will be a division of opinion upon the 
attitude to be taken by the country as a whole. 

But there are many others who see an infringement upon American 
liberty in the limitations of the powers of such organizations. To them, 
the discussion of international affairs by foreign language groups, with 
intent to circulate propaganda in favor of one party or the other in the 
home country, is a lesser evil, compared to the danger of restricting the 
freedom of expression in America. They see little harm in meetings 
which are called to denounce or to promote foreign governments re- 
gardless of whether these governments are free or oppressive, or whether 
they are monarchies or democracies. They see no harm in permitting 
publications in foreign languages to be published in America which take 
a stronger position on foreign political events than they do upon Ameri- 
can political events. They believe that organizations should be free 
to raise money for any purpose which they see fit, to be used abroad; 
that they should forward resolutions expressing their opinion on the 
affairs of their native country; that they should send delegates, if need 
be, to deliberate in assemblies abroad which are dealing with native coun- 
try affairs. 

Upon a subject of such vital importance no general public opinion 
has as yet been formed. Both those who emphasize and those who mini- 
mize the dangers realize that before official action is taken a thorough- 
going analysis should be made of this new political situation, with a view 
to informing the country and receiving the benefit of its mature judg- 
ment. — Frances Kellor, "Immigration and the Future," pp. 245-247. 



CHAPTER VII 

WHAT ATTITUDE SHOULD BE TAKEN TOWARD 

IMMIGRATION FROM THE DISTRESSED 

LANDS OF EUROPE? 

I. The Present Situation 

i. How does the situation America now faces with reference to 
immigration from Europe differ from that existing in the period 
before the world war? 

2. What are the outstanding facts as to the number of immi- 
grants who have come to America in the last one hundred 
years ? 

3. What are the elements which explain the rush from Europe 
toward America and other immigration countries? 

4. What attitude should be taken tozvards immigration from the 
distressed lands of Europe to America ? 

II. Principles Determining Our Action 

1. How far should America's own welfare and how far should 
the rehabilitation and relief of European nations be the deter- 
mining consideration in our action ? 

2. What moral obligation, if any, is there upon America to allow 
immigration from the distressed lands of Europe to our more 
favored land? What moral obligation, if any, to restrict or 
prohibit immigration from Europe? 

3. Discriminating travelers in Europe say that the immigrants 
who have returned from America furnish the progressive lead- 
ership in many towns and villages and help to forward the 
cause of liberty among many peoples. Moreover, through the 
influence of relatives and friends who have emigrated, America 
does much to bring the influence of her ideals and standards of 
living to stay-at-homes in many oppressed and backward lands. 
What weight, if any, should America give to this wholesome re- 
fluent influence in dealing with her problem of immigration? 

4. How far should the desire to promote the highest good of the 

80 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 81 

world as a whole influence our purpose in determining our fu- 
ture national policy on immigration? 

a. What bearing would this have as to our admittance of im- 
migrants from those portions of Europe having low standards 
of literacy and of economic and political life? 

b. Will the help given to such immigrants and through them 
to their home lands compensate for the watering down of 
American cultural and economic life? Why or why not? 

5. To what extent should racial and cultural homogeneity be 
considered essential to our national life? What measure of 
homogeneity is necessary as a basis for a common loyalty? 
Are there European races which in your judgment should not 
be admitted? Why? 

6. If a liberal policy of immigration seems to be for the highest 
good of the world as a whole, but detrimental to some strictly 
American interests, under what circumstances, if any, would 
you favor subordinating these strictly American interests to the 
larger good? 

7. Some say that no one nation can command the necessary in- 
formation and wisdom to deal wisely with the whole problem of 
immigration, so far as the problem may affect its own future, 
and that the day has come when the whole problem of the migra- 
tion of peoples must have international consideration. How far, 
under present conditions, would you be willing to condition 
American immigration laws and policies on international 
action? Why? How far would you welcome international 
conference, study and research on the subject? How would 
you bring this about? 

8. Summarize what you consider the standards or principles 
which should determine America's immigration policy. 

III. Attitude on Immigration 

1. In the light of the principles as you have determined them, 
do you feel that the law limiting immigration to three per cent 
of the number of immigrants of each nationality present here 
in 1910 is wise and should be made permanent? 

2. If you would change the law, what would you suggest? 
Would you open the gates somewhat? If so, to what percent- 
age, or on what basis of admission? 

3. Do or do not the principles you have decided upon involve 
giving distressed peoples the right of free migration? 



8a AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

The Post-war Situation as to Immigration 
Immigration During a Centura 

In the past one hundred years this immigration [to the United 
States] has comprised more than 33,200,000 human beings. From an 

inflow of less than uo. 000 tor the ten years following 1820 it increased 
to more than 8,200,000 for the decade ending with 1909, The war period 
greatly reduced this volume but even including those four years immi- 
gration for the decade closing with IQIQ gave an inflow of more than 
O.347.000. Here is an increase in the one hundred years from a decennial 
yearly average oi [2,900 to nearly 035.000. The largest ten-year immi- 
gration was from 1005 to 1014. its volume exceeding 10.100,000. Of the 
total of more than 33.^00,000 immigrants as many as jo.joo.ooo. or 79 
per cent, came during the past fifty years, and as great a proportion as 
30 per cent of the total, or 10,122,000, during the ten years prior to the 
beginning of the European War. 

The temporary effects of the war upon the volume of immigration 
are indicated in the fact that while it reached nearly 5. 175.000. or a 
yearly average of more than 1.000,000, for the five years immediately 
preceding, it decreased to 1.173.000, or an average inflow of only 235,000, 
for the five years following 1014. This is nearly 30.000 less than that 
for the single year immediately preceding the beginning of hostilities. 
The lowest number of arrivals in any one of these five years was 110.018 
in iqiS. the smallest yearly immigration since [862 just preceding the 
beginning of the Civil War. — Frank Julian Warne, Ph.D.. Washington, 
D. C. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
January, iqji. pp. 181, 182. 

Intolerable Conditions in Europe 

Conditions in Europe have become desperate. Thousands find life 
there no longer tolerable. Relentless persecution, famine, disease, and 
war-weariness have compelled a great exodus. Whither shall the suf- 
ferers look? Lifting up their eyes, they have seen America, the 
country of good wages, plenty of work, fair taxes, education for the 
children, freedom from military service and from traditions of servitude. 
They have received glowing letters from successful relatives who have 
migrated to America. Steamship agencies have painted rosy pictures of 
the land across the sea that flows with milk and honey, of the vast ex- 
panse of Western country not yet settled. 

Contrasting this description with their own misery and hopeless 
outlook, the sufferers conclude that, if they can possibly get together the 
passage money and procure a passport, the only place for them is Amer- 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 83 

ica. They have heard little of the unrest prevailing in the United States, 
and have treated it as a temporary condition, at all events not to be 
compared with their present wretched state. To multitudes in Europe, 
America is still the land of promise. — Edward H. Cotton, Christian 
Register, April 7, 192 1, p. 318. 

The Tragic Condition of European Refugees 

The immigration question is now one of the most important. . . . 
It is not a question of where to go or from where to go. The people 
[Jews of Europe] are not asking and are not waiting. The persecution 
and oppression tears them out root and all, and they find themselves 
stranded all over Europe without means, without legal papers, without 
friends, without connections. I saw them by the thousand in France 
near the ports and in Paris, in Vienna, Prague, and they are all over 
Germany and Italy, waiting for a chance to go anywhere, where they 
will be allowed to live and work unmolested. They would go to America, 
Palestine or wherever they will be permitted. Their condition is worse 
than at the place they come from, except that they have hope of finding a 
place of refuge ; and though their misery is great their hope is greater. 
— Alexander Kahn, Chairman, Jewish People's Relief Committee, 
Survey, September 15, 1920. 

Immigration and Internationalism 

One reason for the hesitation of this and other nations about join- 
ing in a league of nations is dread of losing control over immigration. 
Since every people has an interest in the immigration policy of any 
people, a strong effort will be made in the interest of world peace to 
have all disputes between governments arising out of immigration sub- 
mitted to arbitration. This, however, would tend to the equalization of 
peoples and races in rights of admission to each country, and would 
thereby prevent a people discriminating among the streams of immigrants 
which offer themselves. But, without such discrimination, it cannot re- 
main in any sense a spiritual unity. Hence, it is likely that immigration 
barriers will be even more jealously reserved from international control 
than tariff barriers have been. — Edward Alsworth Ross, Century Maga- 
zine, May, 1 92 1, p. 134. 

New Problems Arising Out of Immigration 

The effects flowing out of the European War have brought to pub- 
lic attention with startling suddenness, like the rapid shifting of scenes 
on a moving picture screen, aspects of immigration which heretofore 
have been regarded with unruffled complacency. We have been made 
conscious of the existence among us, in spirit as well as in name, of the 
hyphenated American — of the German-American, the Italian-American, 
and so on. We have found that our much boasted forces for assimilat- 



84 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

ing the foreign-born element have not been working as efficaciously as 
our optimistic ignorance of the facts had led us to believe. We have 
learned through s.ul experience that those forces need intelligent atten 
tion and direction; we have been taught that they must be given greater 
vigor it' we are to become a homogeneous people and thus escape the 
danger of an internal division among ourselves. 01 even greater im- 
portance, possibly, is the fact that there are millions of alien subjects 
among us who have not become and who do not intend to become Ameri 

can citizens. 

In consequence oi all this, as a nation and as a people we must now 
consciously and intelligently face a wholly new group of problems aris- 
ing out of immigration. These problems are inextricably interwoven 
into our national destiny ; they arc a part of the working out of our demo- 
cratic institutions; their solution depends upon our powers of economic 
and social assimilation. For many years to come the American people 
should solve every problem oi immigration from the point of view of its 
relation to or its effect upon this assimilative ability. Our eyes should 
henceforth be focused upon this one solution; all other aspects oi immi- 
gration should be made subordinate to it. It should consciously become 
of the greatest importance to us as a people that the immigrants whom 
we welcome into our society to participate in the blessings and duties of 
our institutions should be an integral part of that society and not foreign 
to it. This view safeguards the permanent welfare of the. alien who 
comes here to become a homogeneous part of us as well as the welfare 
of the people of the United States themselves. — Frank Julian Warne. 
Ph.D., Annals oi the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 
January. 10,21, pp. 1S3. 1S4. 

Principles Determining American Action 
Who Should Be Admitted? 

No one can tranquilly contemplate the future of this republic without 
an anxiety for abundant provision for admission to our shores of only 
the immigrants who can be assimilated and thoroughly imbued with the 
American spirit. 

From the beginning of the republic America has been a haven to the 
oppressed and the aspiring from all the nations of the earth. We have 
opened our doors freely and have given to the peoples of the world 
who came to us the fullness of American opportunity and political 
liberty. We have come to that stage oi our development where we have 
learned that the obligations of citizenship of necessity must be assumed 
by those who accept the grant of American opportunity. From ibis 
time on we are more concerned with the making of citizens than we are 
with adding to the man power of industry or the additional human 
units in our varied activities. 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 85 

As a people and a nation wc do have the moral, the natural and the 
legal international rights to determine who shall or shall not enter into 
our country and participate in our activities. With a new realization 
of the necessity of developing a soul distinctly American in this republic, 
wc favor . . . such a policy relating to those who come among us as 
will guarantee to the citizens of this republic, not only assimilability of 
the alien born but the adoption by all who come of American standard , 
economic and otherwise, and a full consecration to American pra<t 
and ideals. — Warren G. Harding, quoted in The Survey, November 20, 
1920, p. 278. 

Practical Questions Pektajnino to Regulation 

The practical questions of immigration, from the regulative point of 
view, are two. First, has the development of the United States reached 
the point where foreign increments are actually of no benefit to the 
country at large, socially or economically? Second, assuming that we as 
a nation reap no net advantage from immigration, are there other con- 
siderations which should induce us to permit its continuance? Are we 
bound by any obligations of international justice or humanitarian ethics 
to maintain the policy of admitting unlimited numbers of foreigners 
after we have reached the point in our national development where the 
coming of these foreigners tends in the direction of an unfavorable man- 
land ratio? . . . 

A favorable man-land ratio lies at the basis of democratic institu- 
tions, of a high standard of living, of a progressive economic civilization, 
and in fact of practically all the elements of an enviable national situa- 
tion. It is therefore the most valuable heritage of a nation. And since a 
favorable man-land ratio, once lost, can be recovered only with the 
greatest difficulty if at all, a nation is justified in regarding infringe- 
ments on such a ratio as direct attacks upon its welfare not only for 
the present but also for the future. . . . 

There is not the slightest ground for assuming that the natural 
urge to migrate to the United States will cease as long as our man-land 
ratio and the social, political and economic conditions which arise out of 
it are sufficiently superior to those of the most crowded and most back- 
ward country in the world so as to promise any advantage to the people 
of that country as a reward for migration. The same principle applies 
to all countries in general. The natural culmination of unrestricted im- 
migration would come only when the man-land ratio of all countries 
had been reduced to a common level, and that level would be the equiva- 
lent of that which prevailed in the most poorly situated country. . . . 

Before the war the process of equalizing advantages between the 
countries of Europe and America had progressed so far that there was 
no longer a strong incentive for the common people of the more favored 
European countries to migrate, and immigration from England, Ireland, 



86 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Germany, the Scandinavian countries, etc., had fallen to small propor- 
tions. The immigration from the less fortunate countries of the south 
and southeast, on the other hand, was large and increasing. . . . 
Although the war reduced the population of European nations, it also 
destroyed capital and organization to such an extent as to have actually 
made the man-land ratio less favorable. . . . 

The crux of the whole immigration problem . . . may be briefly 
stated thus: Has a nation whose population is expanding beyond its 
own resources to such an extent as to threaten its standard of living 
a right to look for an outlet in some other land? Or has the time come 
to deny the right of a nation which is suffering stringency because of 
an unrestrained growth of population to seek relief by encroaching on 
the territory of a more fortunate or more self-controlled country? — 
Henry Pratt Fairchild, Ph.D., New York University, Annals of the 
American Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 192 1, pp. 
200, 201. 

Where Self-determination is Real 

Self-determination is real only in a community which has been 
provided by common traditions, history, race and language, with a basis 
of vital conditions upon which there is general agreement, in other 
words, in a nation. A collection of people fortuitously gathered from 
various sources could not build up a living modern polity. They could 
try a series of experiments by patching together ideas selected from 
those of each different section. It would be generations before it 
became an effective organic whole. Self-determination means the power 
to live the social life to which the traditions and instincts of the people 
concerned predispose it. For that self-determination to be effective 
there must be in the community a common loyalty to a national ideal. 
If this ideal is sufficiently attractive, men of alien race will espouse it 
and devote themselves to it. The higher types of society are capable of 
absorbing large numbers of alien races so long as they come in as indi- 
viduals. The difficulty arises when they come in parties and, refusing 
to take on the new loyalty, seek in enclaves to maintain in new surround- 
ings their old ideals. Their own self-determination leads them to spurn 
the new loyalty and cling to the old. The difficulty is that neither sec- 
tion can live unto itself. Its separate loyalties are not adequate. Each 
section is constantly brought into touch with the other sections. And, in 
fact, each seeks to color the life of the whole community with its own 
loyalty. — "Race Conflict and Democracy," Round Tabic, March, 1920, 
pp. 328, 329. 

The Highest Good of the World 

The difficulties . . . which arise from unrestricted immigration can 
be solved only if we look at them from the point of view of the highest 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 87 

good of the world as a whole. It is then clear that the cause of progress 
is best served by preventing the free settlement of the proletariat of an 
advanced or a backward people in a territory already occupied and set- 
tled by the other. The evils which have arisen where it occurs, or 
where the territory occupied by the two are contiguous, for instance in 
the case of Mexico and the United States, the poignant tragedies which 
follow from intermarriage or intermixture between the races widely 
different in appearance and civilization, all go to prove that the policy 
of allotting separate territories to each, in which no permanent settle- 
ment by the other shall be allowed, and in which each race can develop 
on its own lines, with free access by travel and learning to the civiliza- 
tions and methods of all the world, is, in the present state of the world, 
much the best for all concerned. But such a policy imposes a heavy 
responsibility on the leading peoples of the world. It is one which can 
easily be abused if intolerantly or selfishly applied. All races and all 
peoples have an equal title to development, and a just solution of the 
difficulties will be found only if the ruling peoples keep this principle 
clearly in view. — P. H. Kerr, M.A., "International Relations," pp. 
178, 179. 

Exclusion of the Illiterate 

Exactly as the first advantage in the political education of the 
seventeenth century immigrant lay in the political estate which was 
probated in the cabin of the Mayflower as the heritage of 105,000,000 
today, so the past political education of the great mass of the immigrants 
of the twentieth century is the great obstacle to their political education 
now. With each successive wave of immigration we receive those who 
are less and less educated in any knowledge or experience of self- 
government. This is the full, convincing and sufficient reason why we 
must address ourselves to the exclusion of the illiterate and provide 
for the compulsory education in political knowledge of those who come 
in the future. — Talcott Williams, LL.D., Director Emeritus, School of 
Journalism, Columbia University, Annals of the American Academy of 
Political and Social Science, January, 1921, pp. 173, 178. 

Making Up Our Minds 

Grave as is the question of who shall come in and how many, difficult 
as it is to provide means for their proper reception and distribution, we 
must forever be patching up the law and shifting our machinery unless 
the subject has been thought through and we have given quantity its 
relative place in the scheme of our immigration affairs and have arrived 
at convictions by which a majority mean to stick. . . . 

Americans must make up their minds sometime about their prin- 
ciples and beliefs about immigration and not be content year after year 



88 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

to deal with the mechanics of the situation. For instance, does a ma- 
jority believe that to come to America immigrants must pledge them- 
selves to become citizens or that America should be an asylum for op- 
pressed peoples regardless of whether they assimilate or not? Does 
a majority think that all immigrants are a menace? 

If Congress can provide a center of public opinion which will 
regulate the thought of the country and will attract the cooperation of 
all people in America regardless of where they were born, a sound regu- 
lation of immigration will follow, because whatever laws are adopted will 
be enforced with the help of the people who, having been consulted be- 
forehand in their making, will take a pride in compelling obedience to 
them. — Frances Kellor, Annalist, December 20, 1920. 

General Principles 

1. That all legislation dealing with immigration and with resident 
aliens should be based on justice and good-will as well as on economic 
and political considerations. 

2. That the United States should so regulate, and where necessary, 
restrict immigration in order to provide that only so many immigrants 
of each race or people may be admitted as can be wholesomely American- 
ized. 

3. That the number of those individuals of each race or people 
already in the United States who have already become Americanized 
affords the best practicable basis of measuring the further immigration 
of that people. 

4. That American standards of living should be protected from the 
dangerous economic competition of immigrants, whether from Europe 
or from Asia. 

5. That no larger amount of immigration of any given people 
should be admitted than can find steady employment and can fit whole- 
somely into our social, political and economic life. 

6. That such provisions should be made for the care, education 
and distribution of aliens who come to live permanently among us as 
will promote their rapid and genuine transformation into American 
citizens and thus maintain intact our democratic institutions and na- 
tional unity. 

7. That the standards of naturalization should be raised so as to 
include among other requirements at least the ability to read an ordinary 
American newspaper, some real knowledge of the history of the United 
States and an intelligent acceptance of the practices and ideals of our 
democracy. 

8. That under careful regulation as to numbers and qualifications 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 89 

of permitted immigration from the various peoples, the privilege of 
acquiring citizenship by those who are lawfully here and are to remain 
a permanent part of our population should then be granted to all who 
actually qualify, regardless of race. — National Committee for Construc- 
tive Immigration Legislation, Annals of the American Academy of Po- 
litical and Social Science, January, 1921, pp. 213, 214. 

The Case for Gates Opened Wide 

Not the good of the flesh, but that of the spirit is the good we seek. 
If it is good for the soul of this nation that we should walk in the difficult 
path our fathers trod, harkening only to the inner voice, never pausing 
to hear the counsels of cold prudence, then assuredly it is good for us 
to lift up the burdens of welcoming and caring for our brothers from 
other lands, thus putting into fuller use the instrument of democracy the 
Fathers invented — our Republic, founded to promote liberty and justice 
among men. 

Or if we despise the omens, refuse to take up the difficult task where 
our predecessors left off, what awaits us? If we persist in pampering 
ourselves as favorite children, and bedeck ourselves with prosperity's 
coat of many colors, how long will it be before the less favored brethren, 
covetous of our superabundance, will strip us and sell us into the bondage 
of decadence ? Immigration on a large scale into every country as thinly 
populated as ours must go on, will go on, as long as there are other 
countries with denser populations and scantier resources for sustaining 
them. Right through history, the needy peoples have gone in and taken 
possession of the fat lands of their neighbors. Formerly these invasions 
were effected by force ; nowadays they are largely effected by treaties, 
laws, international understandings. But always the tide flows from the 
lands of want to the lands of plenty. Nature is behind this movement; 
man has no power to check it permanently. We in America may, if we 
choose, shut ourselves up in the midst of our plenty, and gorge till we 
are suffocated, but that will only postpone the day of a fair division of 
our country's riches. We shall grow inert from fullness, drunk with 
the wine of prosperity, and presently some culminating folly, such as 
every degenerate nation sooner or later commits, will leave us at the 
mercy of the first comers, and our spoils will be divided among the 
watchers outside our gates. 

These things will not happen in a day, nor in a generation, nor in a 
century, but have we no care for the days that will follow ours? When 
we talk about providing for tomorrow, let us, in the name of all the 
wisdom that science has so laboriously amassed, think of that distant 
tomorrow when the things we now do will have passed into history, to 
stand for the children of that time either as a glorious example or a 
fearful warning. If we settle the immigration question selfishly, we 
shall surely pay the penalty for selfishness. And the rod will smite not 



90 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

our own shoulders, but the shoulders of countless innocents of our be- 
getting. 

The law that the hungry shall feed where there is plenty is not the 
only one which we defy when we turn away the strangers now at our 
gates. A narrow immigration policy is in opposition also to a primary 
law of evolution, the law of continuous development along a given line 
until a climax is reached. Now the evolution of society has been from 
small isolated groups to larger intermingling ones. In the beginning of 
political history, every city was a world unto itself, and labored at its 
own salvation behind fortified walls that shut out the rest of the world. 
Presently cities were merged into states, states united into confederacies, 
confederacies into empires. People at first unknown to each other even 
by name came to pass in and out of each other's territories, merging 
their interests, their cultures, their bloods. 

This process of the removal of barriers, begun through conquests, 
commerce, and travels, is approaching completion in our own era, 
through the influences of science and invention. "The world is my 
country" is a word in many a mouth today. East and West hold hands ; 
North and South salute each other. There remain a few ancient preju- 
dices to overcome, a few stumps of ignorance to uproot, before all the 
nations of the earth shall forget their boundaries, and move about the 
surface of the earth as congenial guests at a public feast. 

This, indeed, will be the proof of the ancient saying, "He hath made 
of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." 
It is coming, inevitably it is coming. We in America are in a position 
to hasten the climax of the drama of unification. If, instead of hastening 
it, we seek to delay it, we step aside from the path of the world's 
progress. 

America is not God's last stand. That which is to be is conditioned 
by what has been. Sometime, somewhere, the Plan that the centuries 
have brooded over will come perfect out of the shell of Time. I am not 
afraid that humanity will stop short of its inevitable climax, but I am 
so jealous for the glory of my country that I long to have America re- 
tain the leadership which she has held so nobly for a while. I desire 
that the mantle of the New England prophets should rest on the shoul- 
ders of our own children. 

Of the many convincing arguments that have been advanced in 
support of the proposition that immigration is good for us, I shall quote 
only one, in the words of Grace Abbott, of Chicago, when she sums up 
a study of eleven immigrant nationalities from southern and eastern 
Europe. "It was the faith in America and not the occasional criticism 
that touched me most," she writes, referring to the sayings of the 
foreigners. "I felt then, as I have felt many times when I have met 
some newcomer who has expected a literal fulfillment of our democratic 
ideals, that fortunately for America we had great numbers who were 



ATTITUDE TOWARD FURTHER IMMIGRATION 91 

coming to remind us of the 'promise of American life,' and insisting 
that it should not be forgotten." 

All the rest of the arguments — utilitarian, humanitarian, and scien- 
tific — I willingly omit. For I do not want the immigrant to be admitted 
because he can help us dig ditches and build cities and fight our battles 
in general. I beg that we make this a question of principle first, and of 
utility afterwards. Whether immigration is good for us or not, I 
am very certain that the decadence of idealism is bad for us, and that 
is what I fear more than the restrictionist fears the immigrant. 

It should strengthen us in our resolution to abide by the Law of the 
Fathers — the law of each for all, and all for each — if we find that the 
movement of democracy to which they imparted such a powerful impulse 
appears to be in the direct path of social evolution. But even if such omens 
were lacking I should still pray for strength to cling to the ideal which 
is defined in the opening words of the Declaration of Independence. 
For I perceive that here, in the trial at Ellis Island, we are put to the 
test of the fiery furnace. It was easy to preach democracy when the 
privileges we claimed for ourselves no alien hordes sought to divide 
with us. But today, when humanity asks us to render up again that 
which we took from the English in the name of humanity, do we dare to 
stand by our confession of faith? Those who honor the golden images 
of self-interest and materialism threaten us with fearful penalties in case 
we persist in our championship of universal brotherhood. They are 
binding our hands and feet with the bonds of selfish human fears. The 
fiery glow of the furnace is on our faces — and the world holds its 
breath. 

Once the thunders of God were heard on Mount Sinai, and a cer- 
tain people heard, and the blackness of idolatry was lifted from the 
world. Again the voice of God, the Father, shook the air above Bunker 
Hill, and the grip of despotism was loosened from the throat of panting 
humanity. 

Let the children of the later saviors of the world be as faithful as 
the children of the earlier saviors, and perhaps God will speak again in 
times to come. — Mary Antin, "They Who Knock at Our Gates," pp. 
134-143- 



CHAPTER VIII 

OF WHAT CONCERN TO UNCLE SAM ARE JOHN 
BULL'S WOES OR WELFARE? 

I. American Attitude Toward Great Britain Following the War 

i. What is the usual attitude towards Great Britain that you find 
among your acquaintances? Can you tell why they feel that 
way? Does the feeling grow out of an unconscious acceptance 
of American tradition, or out of personal experience, or both? 

2. Has the World War made any difference in the American at- 
titude toward Great Britain? If so, in what ways and why? 

3. Do you differentiate in your feelings toward the various racial 
groups within Great Britain and Ireland? Which group most 
appeals to you? Why? 

4. Is the British Empire as a world-encircling commonwealth un- 
popular in America? What is the basis for your opinion? 

5. To what extent must relations with parts of the British Em- 
pire other than the British Isles be taken into consideration in 
considering the American attitude ? 

II. Present Problems in Anglo-American Relations 

1. What seem to be the chief causes of any dislike that may exist 
between England and America? 

2. Some feel that any anti-British feeling in America is due in 
considerable measure to the prejudiced character of the history 
books used in the public schools. What do you think ? 

3. What are the grounds of disagreement between America and 
Great Britain as seen by the sensational press in this country? 

4. What and how important a bearing does the Irish question 
have on Anglo-American relations? 

5. Is an Anglo-American struggle for primacy in world finance 
and trade inescapable? If so, in what spirit should it be carried 
on? 

6. Does America wish to rival, and if possible, to surpass Great 
Britain on the seas? 

7. Is an Anglo-American struggle for prior, most advantageous 

92 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 93 

or exclusive access to desirable raw materials of the earth in- 
evitable? Could such a struggle be made to promote worthy 
international ends? If so, how? 

8. How far would you be ready to trust to British impartiality 
and disinterestedness in administering international communi- 
cations, such as the cables, the wireless telegraph, and the postal 
system, so far as these may be under British control? Do you 
think that America will be equally or more trustworthy with 
respect to the faithful stewardship of such international com- 
munications as may be entirely or partially under our control? 
Why do you think as you do? 

9. Is war between Great Britain and the United States an im- 
possibility? Why? Why not? 

III. Considerations Affecting Anglo-American Relations 

A. America's Possible Obligations in Anglo-Saxon Relation- 

ships. 

1. What things have the English-speaking peoples in common? 
In what respects is America's relation with Great Britain 
closer than that with the continental nations? 

2. What place does the English language fill as a bond of unity 
between Great Britain and America? What other bonds unite 
the two peoples? 

3. What have been the notable occasions of friction between the 
two countries? 

4. Is Britain's good will important for America? What are 
the causes of such accord and good-will as have existed be- 
tween Great Britain and America for more than a generation? 

5. What obligation, if any, do we owe to Great Britain for our 
cultural heritage? How far should we push the blood-tie idea 
in deciding our attitude toward Great Britain ? 

6. In what measure has America's development and safety been 
made possible by the protection of the British navy ? 

7. For what and just how much is America under continuing 
obligation to Great Britain? 

B. Standing of the British Empire in World Affairs. 

1. What is the present territorial scope of the British Empire? 

2. What increment of power, influence, and responsibility has 
the war given to Great Britain? 



g^ AMERICA'S STAKE l\ EUROPE 

; What ;uc the great trade routes of the seas of the world? 
How far is the British X.iw responsible for theii safet) ? 

4. What is your explanation of the extraordinary position Great 
Britain has held in the development of modern civilisation? 

5 How strong do you consider the tics that bind the British 
Empire together? 

6. Poos the British Empire seem to you to be .1 manifest develop- 
ment and contribution towards internationalism, or an aggre 

ration oi allied political interests which will make it difficult 

tor the United States or any other non-British political unit 
to have a fair chance in any future international developments? 

C America, an Ally, ok a Rivai ok Great Britain? 

l. Should America look with tavor or with concern upon the 

maintenance hv Great Britain of her long established and now 

enhanced position in colonization, in sea power, and in trade? 

Should New York City seek to establish itself as the financial 
capital of the world hv supplanting London? 

3, How tar should the activities of America's merchant marine 
be Subject to Britain's exercise of sea power." Should America 
take 'lying down" British opposition to our carrying trade? 
What measure can we take to see to it that America does her 
full share Of the transport husincss of the world? What would 
such a share be? Is it desirable that America should regain her 
former position of supremacy in the carrying trade of the 
world? 

4. In working out the problem oi securing right adjustments 

in the Far Bast, how desirable is it tor America that Anglo- 
American relationships he cordial and genuine? In this con- 
nection consider the British dominions which are in or on the 

Pacific Ocean. 

P. Possibilities in Anglo-American Understanding and 
Cooperation, 

1. What would you say is the opportunity that taces the Anglo 
American peoples under present world conditions? 

What special obligation, if any. do the Anglo-Saxon peoples 
together have in world lite? 

3 What would be the advantage Or disadvantage of American 
and British seapower. practically balanced, together controlling 
the seas ? 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN HULL 95 

4. i', a closer fellowship and a fuller understanding between the 
two great Anglo-Saxon nations likely to ^- of great advantage 
or otherwise in the d< veloping international relations of tne 
future? If advantageous rather than otherwise, just how would 

you go to work to bring about SUCh an understanding ? 

IV. America's Attitude: 

1. CJpon the whole doc, the problem of American relationships 
with Great Britain call foi a cooperative or for a competitive 
and even an antagonist if. policy on the part of America? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

Present Problems in Anglo-American Relations 
Years or Pesil ros Anglo-Saxon Solidarity 

The year', immediately ahead are yean Of ^r^-at peril for Anglo- 
Saxon solidarity. 'I he problems wt mu.t face and solve ^o m far beyond 

the matters dealt with hy . . . orators that one feels the crying need 

of light and more light in considering the quadrangular character of 

relations between the different parti of Anglo Saxondom- Great Hrit- 
ain, self-governing dominions, and the [Jnited States, and the possession, 
and protectorates, British and American. Jajja ri ? The Pacific? Tariffs 

and ihipping? Sea-power? Statu, of the Near East and the German 
colonies? Panama ''.anal? Monroe Doctrine? League of Nations? 

Ireland? We cannot treat these matters only as question! between 
London and Washington affecting Anglo-American relations, .'.'or can 
Great Britain treat them that way. Both London and Washington are 
forced to take into consideration the self-governing dominions of the 

liritish Empire Whose sentiments and interests give them a distinct 
point of view and program of their own. With the exception of South 
Africa, the self-governing dominions are, like the United States, the 
outgrowth of transplanted Anglo-Saxon civilization. It is natural that 
in mentality, and frequently in interests, they should he nearer us than 
the mother country. Canada and South Africa have important Cau- 
casian elements that have not been under the influence of, and are antip- 
athetic to, Anglo-Saxon culture. Australia's Irish rival ours in singing 
the hymn of hate against England*-— Herbert Adams Gibbons, Century 
Magazine, December, 1920, p. 260. 

The International Economic STRUGGLE 

The English statesman must secure for his traders and merchants 
and manufacturers a certainty of a market for their output. How can 



96 IMERIC vs STAKE l\ EUROPE 

he do th.it except by keeping the United States oi America— the only 
solvent competitor oi England out oi the market? . . . 

rhe struggle between America and the British Empire is inevitable, 
it has already begun. It has entered upon its economic stage, driven by 
the stress of circumstances which no group oi statesmen oi philosophers 

can control. The two countries are driven to sock the same markets; 
to strive tor ttie same trade in order that their people may live m corn- 
tort. The contest in its peaceful stage could he prolonged, hut not 
avoided, it some division of the markets could he made, it some arrange- 
ment were possible wherein there would he husiness enough tor all. 
But such a condition exists only in the dreams of the philosophers, not 
in the hard matter of tact concrete conditions of every day lite. 

The struggle is not to come, it has already heen entered upon. Eng- 
land has already shut us out trout her own markets tor many articles 
and commodities which we produce. In every one of her colonies, 
England has a school of politicians who ate openly urging closer ti ade 
relations with the mother country, at the expense of her rivals. She 
controls today, among other things, the ruhher and wool of the world. 
She is seeking control ot oil helds upon which depends the future of 
transportation. Through her control of the cables and her system of 
trade permits and passports she has already shut out the American 
trade* tor all practical purposes from many of the markets of the world. 
She is only as yet feeling her way, intent upon going at present as far 
as she is permitted to go on and in the end as tar as her power will 
enable her to go. — The Hon. Daniel F. Cohalan, Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the State of New Yotk. "The Freedom of the Seas." a pam- 
phlet published by the Friends of Irish Freedom, pp. t-\ t& 

A\ Amvkuvx [nihctmfxt of Great Britain 

It would probably he argued by most competent students of world 
affairs . . . that the capital concern of the world is Anglo-American 
relations. No other single issue, perhaps, is charged with such mo- 
mentous consequences to the future development of human society. . . . 
In a recent speech at Bedford College, Viscount Grey said. "There is 
no solid ground for disagreement between this country and America " 

That is substantially true, hut there are abundant grounds for disagree- 
ment in the absence Of good will and good temper. In a recent article 
in his papers Mr. William Randolph Hearst, the N'orthclitte of Ameri- 
can journalism and the chief preacher of Anglophobia there, set him- 
self to describe them. . . . The character of the indictment is fairly 
represented by these two extracts: 

"It is resentment of England's affectation of lordship over the rest 
of the world. .u\d England's arrogant disposition to employ the United 
States as a useful tool for the furtherance of her own selfish purposes 
without regard for the interests of the I nited States. 



UNCLK SAM AND JOHN HULL 97 

"It is ih'- feeling thai there is no such thing as fair friendship with 
England, no such thing as equable asso< iation, no such thinj^ as mutually 
beneficial ( ooperation. . . ." 

Alike to our friends and foes in America, the Irish question is the 
governing fact of Anglo-American relations. In a recent speech in the 
House of Commons, Sir Edward ' arson, referring to the frish question, 
said: "Let America mind her own busines and we will mind ours." 
Until we realize that the Irish quei tion is an American question, as much 
as the Negro question is an American question, we shall miss its capital 
meaning. The idea that in this matter the United States is an imper- 
tinent outsider interfering in a domestic British quarrel is a complete 
misreading of the situation. The United States is concerned about it 
because it is the most vital of its domestic issue ... Among [the] 
different families that are absorbed or being absorbed in the general 
currency of the race, the Irish form the mosi solid, coherent, detached 
mass. . . . The loyalty is to Ireland and the idea is revenge upon its 
ancient enemy. — A. G. Gardiner, Contemporary Review, November, 
1920, pp. 609-612. 

America's Possible Obligations 

The Basic Population of the Republic 

The great central, inspiring, and controlling element of American 
population over a domain of three million square miles is singularly 
homogeneous and singularly at one in ideals. . . . 

The American native stock, with its assimilated early additions, 
is the greatest Anglo-Saxon clement in the world. In numbers it is 
greater than the entire combined population of England, Scotland, Wales, 
and Canada. It possesses, except in small areas in the South, a strik- 
ingly high average of education. . . . 

The American and the Britain, springing in the main from the 
same blood, speak the same language of ideals and purposes. They 
have much the same weaknesses and likewise similar elements of 
strength. When General Haig, in his famous appeal to the British 
armies in the dark days of 1918, told his men that their "backs were 
against the wall," a thrill went through listening America. The Anglo- 
Saxon stock understood. 

It is high time that public opinion in the United States should be 
reminded, and also that the perplexed Englishman should be informed, 
of the significance of the great basi< population of the Republic. Talk 
of serious disagreements between Great Britain and the United States 
is preposterous. — William S. Rossiter, Atlantic Monthly, August, 1920, 
pp. 278, 279. 

British Leadership and Protection 

Some virile and vigorous actions took place in America during the 



o8 AMERICA'S STAKE IX EUROPE 

latter part of the eighteenth century. And it was the clear and masterful 
thinking of seventeenth century Englishmen which lay hack of the 
assertion of the English colonists of the century which followed. You 

cannot understand the American Republic without going hack to John 
Locke. Thai conception of orderly democracy which is the political ideal 
of America has been increasingly realized in the life of England itself. 

The England whose tight of twenty years at last saw the end of 
the Napoleonic tyranny is a country to which America is deeply in debt 
The England whose whole story in the nineteenth century moved in 
larger and larger orbits of freedom ami reform is a land whose inspira- 
tion has been of incalculable value to the younger land across the sea. 
The England whose Navy has been the most notable police force of 
democracy in the world has more than once stood between us and our 
foes. There have been days when we did not realize the danger from 
which England was protecting us. — Lynn Harold Hough, The Times, 
London, July 3, iqjo. 

The Summons ro Enduring Peace 

There has persisted in the consciousness of these | Anglo-Saxon] 
peoples, often enough obscurely, hut none the less certainly, the feeling 
that some special Bat of God and nature enjoins enduring peace among 
those whose blood or language or Institutions or traditions, or all to- 
gether, go hack historically to the snug little island of Britain. — Profes- 
sor William Archibald Dunning, Columbia University, "The British 
Empire and the United States." pp. 370, 371. 

Kinship Through Liberty Assured Through Law 

In this many-peopled world England is our nearest relation. Erom 
Bonaparte to the Kaiser, never has she allowed any outsider to harm 
us. We are her cub. She has often clawed us, and we have clawed her 
in return. This will probably go on. ... 1 have not sought to per- 
suade the reader that Great Britain is a charitable institution. What 
nation is, or could he. given the nature of man? Her good treatment 
of us has been to her own interest. She is wise, far-seeing, less of an 
opportunist in her statesmanship than any other nation. She has seen 
clearly and ever more clearly that our good will was to her advantage. 
And beneath her wisdom, at the bottom of all. is her sense of our kinship 
through liberty defined and assured by law. If we were so far-seeing 
as she is, we also should know that her good will is equally important 
to us: not alone for material reasons, or for the sake of our safety, but 
also for those few deep, ultimate ideals of law, liberty, life, manhood 
and womanhood, which we share with her. which we got from her, 
because she is our nearest relation in this many-peopled world. — Owen 
Wister, "A Straight Deal or the Ancient Grudge," pp. 285-287. 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 99 

Non-Anglo-Saxon Elements in American Life 

We Anglo-Saxons cannot expect to denounce Ireland and even 
Germany and affirm our affection for and championship of England 
on the ground of blood relationship, . . . and expect our right to speak 
for the United States not to be contested. Unfortunately, this is not 
"our country." The United States, from the beginning, contained ele- 
ments without a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood in their veins, and Germans, 
Irishmen, and Hollanders fought in the Revolutionary War. Through- 
out the nineteenth century the United States relied for her growth and 
expansion upon European immigration, and the large part of the Irish 
and German elements came to this country before the Civil War. The 
United States is not our (Anglo-Saxon) country either because of the 
great preponderance of people of our unmixed blood or because the 
Anglo-Saxon element founded it exclusively and made it what it is. 
The greatness of the United States in the third decade of the twentieth 
century is due to the combined aid of several different elements of her 
population, and it is certain that we could not have dispensed with either 
.the German or the Irish element. And these elements are so numerous 
and so powerful in wealth and political influence that it is inexpedient — to 
use a mild word — to ignore or affront them in our . . . writing and 
speaking. It does not help the cause of Anglo-Saxon solidarity for an 
. . . orator to denounce the German-Americans and the Irish-Americans. 
Quite the contrary. Thoughtless speakers who indulge in such diatribes 
and enthusiastic listeners who beam approval are digging the grave and 
assisting at the interment of Anglo-Saxon solidarity. . . . 

If we want to make Anglo-Saxon solidarity a national policy in- 
stead of a group cult, we shall have to find an appeal to the American 
public different from that of the orators and writers who speak in these 
days of our ancestors, our common blood, our precious Anglo-Saxon 
heritage. Nor is the superiority of Anglo-Saxon culture an argument 
that impresses many outside of our group. It smacks too much of a 
discredited political system that sought to replace or dominate other 
cultures by the Kultnr of the Uebermensch. . . . 

If millions upon millions of Americans are ignorant of or indig- 
nantly reject the bases of Anglo-Saxon solidarity, . . . what are we 
going to do about it ? We cannot tell Hans Schmidt, Giuseppe Tommasi, 
Abram Einstein, Olaf Andersen, Robert Emmet O'Brien, and a dozen 
others that they are not good Americans because they do not cheerfully 
accept the supremacy of the Scotch and English among us and the su- 
periority of Scotch and English ways. Nothing could be better fitted 
to arouse within them a fierce determination to resist assimilation and 
oppose the policy of Anglo-Saxon solidarity. — Herbert Adams Gibbons, 
Century Magazine, December, 1920, pp. 256-258. 



ioo AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

• Standing of the British Empire 

A Far-Flung Empire 

There has never been under single sway so great a part of the earth 
as is now British. Before the World War the empire was credited with 
13,153,712 square miles, distributed thus: 

Square miles 

In Europe [21,51a 

In Asia 2,187,550 

In Africa 3,618,245 

In North America 3,893,020 

In Central America 8,600 

In the West Indies 12,300 

In South America 97,800 

In Australasia 3.214,685 



13.153./I2 



To the foregoing may now be added the area acquired in the late 
war and later peace. The Library of Congress states them thus: 

Area sq. 

Miles Population 
German colonies and dependencies in 

Africa, the Pacific, and the South Seas 1,027,620 11,897,092 
Palestine, including Sanjak of Jerusalem 

and Vilayet of Lebanon 7790 541,600 

Mesopotamia 143,250 2,000,000 

Arabia (Hedjaz and Yemen) 107,380 1,060,000 

Persia 628,000 9,500,000 

Egypt 350,000 12,569,000 

2,264,040 37,567,692 

Thus is made up an empire of 15,417,752 miles and about 500,000,000 
souls. In three continents. North America, Africa, and Australia, the 
empire is the largest landed proprietor ; in the fourth, Asia, her 3,073,970 
square miles represent nearly twice the extent of imperial Rome ! 

Of her 500,000,000 souls, about 65,000,000 are self-governing citi- 
zens; the rest, subjects. . . . The empire includes about a third of the 
world's people, and somewhat more than a quarter of its land, and . . . 
the basis of its power is the group of self-governing dominions of 
Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Union of South Africa, and the 
United Kingdom itself. 

The complete loyalty of the Anglo-Saxon dominions has been so 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 101 

conclusively proved in the last six years that it is safe to dismiss the 
old picture of mot her England one day left alone at the family fireside. 
Australia and New Zealand are probably more nearly pure Anglo-Saxon 
than is Great Britain itself. Another century is likely to sec Canada, 
Australia, and the Union of South Africa containing each a population 
approximating that of the United Kingdom. With British institutions 
and British sympathies, and with their substantial interests closely 
intertwined with those of the home country and the empire, this group 
of nations, independent, yet interdependent, will be the basis of the em- 
pire. — Judson C. Wclliver, Century Magazine, October, 1920, pp. 724, 725. 

Britain's Relationship to the New Continental Nations 

The war has given us [Great Britain] an opportunity, such as few 
nations have enjoyed, of instructing and influencing the other countries 
constituting European civilization. For it has not only given us almost 
undisputed political authority in Europe, thanks to military and economic 
predominance, but it has n solved the military and economic Empires, 
that previously would have resisted our hegemony, into adolescent na- 
tions who look to us for guidance. That guidance cannot be given in all 
respects through the official and governmental channels. We have been 
placed by the war almost in an Imperial relation to the nations arising 
from the dissolution of the German, Austrian, Russian, and Ottoman 
Empires. Unless in this new relation we can convince these young 
and sensitive nations that we have a real sympathy for, and are making 
a real study of, their national character and culture, our authorities 
will be handicapped in the very difficult diplomacy that lies before them. 
— George Young, Contemporary Review, July, 1920, p. 55. 

British Control of Trade Routes 

The [British] Admiralty argue that the trade routes of the sea are 
equivalent to the railways of the land; and that at sea, unlike the land, 
the trade routes lie open to attack all along their flanks and particularly 
at those points at which (like railway junctions) the routes converge, 
such as the entrance to the English Channel ; off the Fastnet ; the Straits 
of Gibraltar; the Cape; the Panama Canal; and the cross-Atlantic routes. 

The great trade routes of the world are: (1) The North Atlantic; 
(2) The North Sea and the Baltic; (3) The Mediterranean, Southern 
Europe, and the Black Sea; (4) India, China, Japan, and the Far East; 
(5) Australia, New Zealand and the South Seas; (6) The African; 
(7) The South American; (8) The Pacific. 

Whereas on land no country is responsible for the railways outside 
its borders, on the sea the British Navy is responsible for the whole of 
the trade routes traversing the great globe itself. — L. Cope Cornford, 
Nineteenth Century and After, June, 1920, pp. 1114, 11 15. 



102 AMERICAS STARK IN EUROPE 

A Great Instrument of Civilization 

There are many Americans who look upon the British Empire as 
a whole not merely greater than any of its parts but greater than the 
sum of all its parts. They believe that with the American Common- 
wealth it is the greatest instrument of civilization on the globe; that 
properly administered it promises more blessings to mankind than any 
single human institution; that it is in fact in the words of the British 
Premier, "the most hopeful experiment in human organization which 
the world has yet seen'" — *'a saving fact in a very distracted world." — 
Round Table, September, 1921, p. 841. 



Great Britain — Ally or Rival? 
The Fight for Supremacy in the Carrying Trade 

[Britain's] commercial and financial necessities are now so 
great that in order to keep afloat as a going-concern it will be absolutely 
necessary for her to control the markets of the world. Today the public 
debt of the British Empire is more than nine billions of pounds, the 
yearly interest charge is more than two and a quarter billions of dollars. 
Such a sum it is impossible for England to raise from her already 
heavily burdened people. Her merchants and manufacturers are in 
many cases on the verge of bankruptcy. It is necessary in order to re- 
coup the losses made by them during the past few years that they should 
monopolize the business of the world. A government which must look 
to a solvent England for the collection of the revenues necessary to its 
continued existence must do its best in order to regain solvency for their 
country and retain solvency for its manufacturers and merchants. 

By the exigencies of the war the American flag was restored to the 
seas and placed again upon a large mercantile marine. That marine in 
order to continue to exist must seek out markets for American commerce 
throughout the world and must in doing this compete with the English 
mercantile marine from which for generations the English have derived 
an immense proportion of their revenues. Competition, first conducted 
in friendly spirit, will, as the necessities of each side increase, grow more 
keen and more bitter. English shipowners do not and will not regard 
with composure strong competition from a country which for fifty years 
has had practically no mercantile marine. They regard, and naturally 
so, the American mercantile marine as one which is entering upon a 
field which belongs to them, and they regard this competition as un- 
friendly and hostile and as an invasion of their rights and the cutting 
down of the revenues which they believe to belong to themselves. It is 
of vital importance to the English that they should receive annually a 
revenue of several billions of dollars from their control of ocean-borne 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 103 

commerce. — The Hon. Daniel F. Cohalan, Forum, January, 1921, pp. 
63, 64. 

An Inescapable Economic Struggle 

Great Britain has been the dominant factor in the world for a 
century. She gained her position after a terrific struggle, and she has 
maintained it by vanquishing Holland, Spain, France and Germany. 

The United States is out to capture the economic supremacy of the 
earth. Her business men say so frankly. Her politicians fear that their 
constituents are not as yet ready to take such a step. They have been 
reassured, however, by the presidential vote of November, 1920. Amer- 
ican business life is moving rapidly in the same direction. 

Great Britain holds title to the pickings of the world. America 
wants some or all of them. The two countries are headed straight for 
a conflict, which is as inevitable as morning sunrise, unless the menace 
of Bolshevism grows so strong, and remains so threatening, that the 
great capitalist rivals will be compelled to join forces for the salvation 
of capitalist society. . . . 

The capitalists of Great Britain have faced dark days and have 
surmounted huge obstacles. They are not to be turned back by the 
threat of rivalry. The American capitalists are backed by the greatest 
surpluses in the world ; they are ambitious, full of enthusiasm and 
energy, they are flushed with their recent victory in the world war, and 
overwhelmed by the unexpected stores of wealth that have come to 
them as a result of the conflict. They are imbued with a boundless 
faith in the possibilities of their country. Neither Great Britain nor 
the United States is in a frame of mind to make concessions. Each is 
confident — the British with the traditional confidence of centuries of 
world leadership; the Americans with the buoyant, idealistic confidence 
of youth. It is one against the other until the future supremacy of the 
world is decided. — Scott Nearing. "The American Empire," pp. 235-237. 

London or New York, the World's Financial Capital? 

There is no doubt that the English-speaking people constitute the 
strongest group in the world today, financially, economically, morally 
and from a military standpoint. 

Great Britain and her colonies, including her ex-colony the United 
States of America, are the most powerful homogeneous mass of people 
on earth. 

The center of this group, and its directing head, used to be London. 
This was the largest city in the world. And from Downing Street, as 
the headquarters of imperial political machinery was called, went forth 
those edicts which, like the decrees from the Roman Forum in the days 
of the Caesars, "held the fretful globe in awe." 



104 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

But that day is passing, perhaps has passed. Metropolitan London 
is now exceeded in population by metropolitan New York. 

It is New York, not London, that is the financial Mecca of all indi- 
gent nations and industrial adventure. It is in America, not England, 
that needy France, Italy, Sweden and Denmark seek to float their loans. 

The scepter of world dominance is passing from London, as in the 
pages of history it passed from Paris, from Spain, from Venice, from 
Constantinople, from Rome, and so on back. — Dr. Frank Crane, Current 
Opinion, August, 1921, p. 161. 

We [the British] have restored our international credit, and we 
have made it clear to those who doubted our capacity or our will that 
we can hold, and that we shall hold for this country and this city, the 
very proud position as the premier financial center of the world. — The 
Rt. Hon. Austen Chamberlain. Retiring Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
presenting the budget for Great Britain for the forthcoming fiscal year 
to the British Parliament. The Times, London, April 26, 1921. 

Assuming the Leadership of the World 

Praise God for the Atlantic Ocean ! It is the geographical founda- 
tion of our liberties. Yet. as I've often written, there are men here, 
real men. ruling men. mighty men. and a vigorous stock. 

A civilization isn't an easy nut to crack. But I notice that the men 
of vision keep their thought on us. They never forget that we are 100 
million strong and that we dare do new things : . . . Our power, our 
adaptability, our potential wealth, they never forget. They'll hold fast 
to our favor for reasons of prudence as well as for reasons of kinship. 
And. whenever we choose to assume the leadership of the world, they'll 
grant it — gradually — and follow loyally. They cannot become French, 
and they dislike the Germans. They must keep in our boat for safety 
as well as for comfort. . . . 

What are we going to do with this England and this Empire pres- 
ently when economic forces unmistakably put the leadership of the race 
in our hands ? How can we lead it and use it for the highest purposes 
of the world and of democracy? We can do what we like if we go about 
it heartily and with good manners (any man prefers to yield to a gentle- 
man rather than to a rustic) and throw away — gradually — our isolating 
fears and alternate boasting and bashfulness. "What do we most need 
to learn from you?" I asked a gentle and bejeweled nobleman the other 
Sunday, in a country garden that invited confidences. "If I may speak 
without offense, modesty." A commoner in the company, who has seen 
the Rocky Mountains, laughed and said: "No; see your chance and 
take it : that's what we did in the years when we made the world's his- 
tory." — From personal letters of Ambassador Walter H. Page to Presi- 
dent Wilson, World? s Work, August, 1921, pp. 353-354. 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 105 

Possibilities of Anglo-American Cooperation 
Facing the Supreme Opportunity 

Facing this vast and turbulent world, amid "the restless tossing of 
long-enthralled nationalities," stand the two great Anglo-Saxon allies 
of democracy and peace. . . . Together we are responsible for about 
one-third of the land area of the globe and nearly one-third of its popu- 
lation; ... we possess nearly one-half of its wealth and half of its 
trade. Selfishly held for the exploitation of British imperialism or 
American commercial supremacy, this must arouse the jealousy and 
opposition of the world. But if it is held as a sacred trust for demo- 
cratic development, for responsible government and self-determination 
for all backward people and unprivileged classes, these two nations face 
their supreme opportunity. — Sherwood Eddy, "Everybody's World," 
p. 249. 

Founding a New Social Order 

In the backwash of the war the world is restless. . . . On both sides 
of the Atlantic it is now realized that in many respects the social order 
is going to change. At such an hour it is of supreme importance that 
you [Americans] and we [British] should stand and face these things 
together. No Christian conscience is satisfied with the social order as 
it has been or actually is. On the other hand, it will take all the wisdom 
and all the conscience of our united statesmanship and experience to 
create a social order founded upon justice and stable for the future. — 
John Kelman, D.D., "Some Aspects of International Christianity," pp. 
163-164. 

Standing Together if the World Is to Advance 

England and America have the highest type of civilization, and for- 
tunately they have the best resources. Wealth, men, education, power 
— these four factors of civilization are centered in the two English- 
speaking nations. We must stand together if the world is to advance. 
This would be a very poor world in which to live if these two countries 
made war on each other. — Francis L. Patton, LL.D., Former President 
of Princeton University, New York Times, May 1, 1921. 

Peace and Progress Based on Anglo-American Understanding 

I look upon the relationship between England and America as far 
surpassing in importance and in effect for good or evil every other inter- 
national element. Indeed, I cannot conceive of a world really at peace, 
riding safely the waves of the problems and complexities present and 
to come, and progressing toward a better state, unless it is bottomed on 
good will, genuine understanding and broad cooperation between the two 



106 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

great branches of the English-speaking family. — Otto H. Kahn, in let- 
tor to the Times 01 London, quoted in New York Times, May i, 1921. 

Abraham Lincoln's Inheritance 

It is the identity of these fundamental conceptions [of justice and 
liberty] in both countries which makes it impossible that in any great 
world emergency Britain and America can be on opposing sides. These 
conceptions of justice and liberty are the breath of life for both. While 
they prevail both nations will endure; if they perish both nations will 
die. These were Lincoln's inheritance; and when he declared that 
African slavery was eternally wrong and gave his life to end it he was 
responding to impulses born in him from a long line of humble folk, 
as well in England as in America, who were themselves a product of 
the age-long struggles tor the development of An^lo-Saxon freedom. 

We may disregard all the little prejudices and quarrels that result 
from casual friction and pin-pricks, and from outside misrepresentations 
and detraction, and rest upon Lincoln's unerring judgment of his country- 
men and his race. We may be assured from him that whenever trials 
come, whenever there is need for assurance of the inherent power of 
truth and the triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom, then peace and 
friendship between Britain and America will prove to be. as Lincoln 
desired to make them, perpetual. Because under the direct tests of na- 
tional character, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, the souls of both 
Britain and America prove themselves of kin to the soul of Abraham 
Lincoln, friendship between us is safe and the statue of Lincoln the 
American stands as of right before the old Abbey where sleep the great 
of Britain's history. — From the address of the Hon. Elihu Root, in 
presenting the St. Gaudens statue of Abraham Lincoln to the British 
people. London. July jS, iqjo. 

A Reconciling Ministry 

May not Anglo-American friendship be counted among the recon- 
ciling ministries of the world? May not the fraternity of the British 
and American peoples be regarded as a bond from which a hundred 
other bonds will gain consistency and strength? . . . Mischief makers 
are at work on both sides of the Atlantic. They are gathering up all 
the old prejudices and hatreds to feed the unclean fires. Any fuel is 
welcome that will nourish the devilish flames. 

They are busy throwing upon the smouldering ashes the old in- 
flammable suspicions, and insinuations, and misinterpretations, and mis- 
trusts. And here and there the fire is getting hold again. Where unto will 
it grow? Shall we allow the mischief makers to have it all their own 
way? Have we been to the school of horrors for five years and have 
we learned nothing? Have we been through the valley of the shadow of 



UNCLE SAM AND JOHN BULL 107 

death only to emerge more expert in the wiles of bitterness and aliena- 
tion? Is it for this our sons have died? I do not believe it. . . . 

Our agreements are far more numerous than our differences, and 
they are far more essential and profound. . . . What have we in com- 
mon? First of all, we have common springs of faith and devotion. The 
spiritual fountains which rise and How in one country are not strange 
and foreign to those who live in the other. . . . We have vital kinship 
in our common modes of worship. . . . We have even our denomina- 
tional varieties in common. . . . We are one in community of lan- 
guage. . . . America is the gathering ground of all the races of the 
earth, and yet the one language is taking possession of the many peoples 
— as the advancing tide fills all the coves and creeks and bays of a wide 
stretching and strangely indented shore. That one language is assuming 
sovereignty through the public schools, and through the demands of 
business, and through the necessities of public life. . . . And that com- 
mon language means a common literature. We are increasingly ex- 
ploring the literary treasures of America, as indeed the American 
people are constantly exploring ours. The best thoughts of the best 
minds of the two peoples are more and more becoming our common 
nutriment. They are nourishing common vision, and common ideal, and 
common purpose. They are creating a currency of blood in the vital 
intimacies of corporate international life. . . . We have a common belief 
and confidence in representative government, and we share the same 
ideals of freedom. We believe in civil and religious liberty. Our liber- 
ties and their liberties arc kinsmen of a common stock. . . . 

Surely it is our appointed destiny to march together in the eman- 
cipating bonds of intimate friendship. We are to be one, not for aggres- 
sion, not in the lust of carnal dominion, and not for a display of ma- 
terial might which will hold the world in awe. We are to be one 
to emancipate and not to oppress, to evangelize and not to tyrannize, to 
give liberty to the captives and to open the prison to them that are 
bound. We are to be one as ministers of the righteousness of the great 
white throne. We are to be one in the jealous guardianship of the altar 
of peace. We are to be one in the holy custody of the altar of freedom. 
We are to be one in a spirit of gracious and sacrificial fraternity for 
the welfare of all men, and the evangelization of the world. — The Rev. 
J. H. Jowett, M.A., D.D., Sermon on "Anglo-American Friendship, The 
Supreme Bond of Enduring Peace," preached at Westminster Chapel, 
London, July 6, 1919. 



CHAPTER IX 

WHAT SHOULD BE THE AMERICAN ATTITUDE 
TOWARD GERMANY? 

I. The Issue America Faces 

1. What has boon the prevailing American attitude toward the 
German government since the Armistice? Toward the people 
of Germany? How, it at all. has this attitude changed as the 

months have passed ? 

2. What is. and what is likely to be. the attitude of the European 
nations towards Germany ? Ought the American attitude to be 
the same or different ? Why ? 

3. Questions like the following are facing America as well as 
the nations of Europe. Select the two or three which seem to 
yon most pressing : 

a. Should Germany be held to full responsibility for the great 
war? Should the Germans be called upon to pay the full 
penalty for the world tragedy? 

b. France seems to be eager that Germany be kept permanently 
conscious of the menace of French power. Why? Would 
this be desirable? 

c. Have the victors in the World War a right to attempt per- 
manently to cripple Germany? 

d. Should Germany be once more accepted as a member of the 
family of nations or should international ostracism as di- 
rected against her be considered as necessary and just ret- 
ribution ? 

e. Ought the feelings which the war aroused to be allowed 
to persist ? Why ? Why not ? 

f. What place in Europe and the world should the Teutonic 
peoples take in post-war life? What contribution, if any, 
to the world's life and progress might they make under pres- 
ent conditions? 

g. What attitude should America take toward the forcible 
collection of the reparations and toward armed enforcement 
of the terms of the treaty ? 

h. What attitude should America take toward the matter of 
establishing full trade relations with Germany? 

10S 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 109 

II. Considerations Affecting America's Attitude on These 
Questions 

A. The Purpose of Punishing Germany. 

1. What are the considerations which have had weight in fixing 
the terms of the treaty of Peace and in setting the limits of the 
reparations? With what purpose in mind have these been de- 
cided? 

2. For just what should Germany be punished? Who in Ger- 
many should be punished ? 

3. Does wrong doing as such demand punishment? Why? What 
should be the purpose of punishment? Just what end should 
be sought in fixing any penalties ? 

4. Ought punishment be in proportion to the crime ? If so, why? 
If not, why not? On what principle should punishment be de- 
termined ? 

5. The leaders in the new Germany claim that all in Europe who 
had a part in the old imperialistic rivalries must share in the 
blame for the war. Can the entire responsibility be placed upon 
Germany? Why or why not? 

6. If the full responsibility can fairly be placed on Germany 
ought she to pay the full penalty? What would be such a 
penalty ? 

7. For which should we primarily be concerned? 

a. For exact and implacable justice for wrongs already done; 
or, 

b. For the development of just, wholesome and tranquil na- 
tional and international conditions in the future? 

B. Conditions Within Germany and Germany's Attitude in 

Respect to Foreign Relations. 

1. Did the war stop too soon? Would a crushed Germany have 
been a more wholesome, valuable and trustworthy member in 
the family of nations? What are the reasons for your opinion? 

2. Do you feel that German militarism has been permanently 
destroyed? If not, what do you regard as essential to the pre- 
vention of a reassertion of the militarist spirit and purpose on 
the part of Germany? 

3. What kind of motive was back of the German military ma- 
chine so far as the common people were concerned ? Were the 



no AMERICA'S STAKE IX EUROPE 

common people at fault in yielding such abject obedience to 

their political ami military leaders? 

4. It you had been a youth of fighting age in Germany in 1014 
o\o you think you would have been convinced of the lightness 
of Germany's cause? Why? Why not? 

5. Poos Germany seem to you to be carrying on international 
propaganda in an after-war effort to influence public opinion in 

her behalf? What evidences have you seen oi this? Would 
such an effort necessarily be reprehensible? Would you trust 
facts or arguments if you knew they had their source in such 
propaganda? Why? Why not? 

0. How far OUght the attitude oi America toward Germany be 
determined by the spirit oi middle-aged and elderly Germans 
who contrived the war and how far by the spirit that may be 
discernible in young Germany, now in the schools and univer- 
sities, and soon to be dominant in their nation? 

7. As von have observed European affairs since the Armistice do 
you feel that the governments and peoples oi the Central 
Towers are now worthy of international trust and confidence? 
If SO, why? If not, what evidence of repentance on their part 
would yon demand before you changed your mind? 

C. Results ro Be Expected prom rHE Rigorous Punishment 
of Germany. 

1. What effect is a rigorous enforcement of punishment likely 

to have upon : 

a. The physical and moral health of the youth oi Germany? 

b. The readiness of the German people to attempt to pay the 
reparations? 

c. The likelihood of disorders and unrest within the Central 
Powers tending towards Bolshevism and revolution? 

d. The development of enduring resentment and hatred among 
the German people towards the peoples of the Allied and 
Associated powers? 

e. The turning of German thought and plans eastward, so as 
to give Germany access to Russian raw materials and markets 
to enable Germans to share in the reorganization of Russia's 
Commercial and industrial life, and to expose Germany fully 
and continuously to Russia's revolutionary processes and 
propaganda ? 

f. The tranquillity of Europe as a whole? 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY in 

g. The general processes of reconstruction throughout 
Europe? 

2. Suppose starvation were a just fate for a criminal, recalci- 
trant nation. Could the Allied and Associated powers afford to 
have this come to pass? Why? Why not ? 

D. Possible Obligations op America. 

i. What promises did America hold out as the basis for the 

Armistice arrangement S P 

2. In what measure were these fulfilled in the Armistice and 
Peace arrangements ? 

3. < )n the basis of Mr. Wilson's Fourteen Points, which con- 
stituted the avowed basis of the Armistice negotiations, what 
attitude have the former enemy nations a right to infer Amer- 
ica will take ? 

4. What moral obligation, if any, is upon the United States to 
conduct its own present and future relations with the Central 
Powers in accordance with the spirit of the Fourteen Points 
and our announced war aims? 

III. Principles Upon Which America's Attitude Should Be 
Determined 

1. What weight do you think each of the following should have 
in determining our attitude toward Germany? 

a. Apply exact justice: see that Germany gets what she de- 
serves. 

b. Do with Germany that which will tend to promote peace 
throughout all Europe. 

c. Seek to reinstate Germany at the earliest possible moment 
as an acceptable and worthy member of the family of na- 
tions. 

d. Bring about the permanent crippling of Germany, so she 
can never repeat her past offenses. 

e. Endeavor to achieve a genuinely Christian attitude of show- 
ing good will toward enemies. 

2. To what extent would you consider bitterness and hatred 
toward our late enemies an evidence of patriotism? Why? 

3. What conditions among the people of America, and what 
among the peoples of the Central Powers, seem to you to 
make difficult the acceptance of a Christian attitude on the part 
of Americans toward them? 



112 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

4. Would you or would you not feel that Jesus' principles of 
"good will to enemies" and of "retaliation by doing good in 
return" are applicable in deciding what the attitude of Christian 
America should be? If not, how would you state the prin- 
ciples or ideals which under the circumstances should govern 
the attitude of American citizens who are avowed Christians 
in thought and practice? 

IV. America's Attitude 

1. Look back over the questions America is facing as stated on 
page 108. What answer would you now give to the one or two 
you selected as most pressing? 

2. Under present international conditions what forms would 
you expect the expression of Christian ideals to take in Ameri- 
can relations with the Central Powers? 



INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

Stern and Exacting Justice for Germany 

The Requirements of International Reconstruction 

Before the war General Bernhardi declared that one purpose of 
military Germany was so to crush France that she could never inter- 
fere with Germany's plans in the future. What she has done to realize 
this mad ambition Lloyd George made clear in his speech in London on 
March 3, 1920. The New York Tribune thus sums up from his speech 
the items of desolation which Germany has wrought in French territory : 

Houses destroyed 319,269 

Houses partly destroyed 3 J 3>675 

Factories destroyed (metallurgical, electrical, me- 
chanical) 21,000 

Textile factories destroyed 4,000 

Alimentary factories destroyed or stripped 4,000 

Townships destroyed J >659 

Townships, Ya destroyed 707 

Townships half destroyed 1,656 

Railways destroyed, kiloms 8,000 

Bridges destroyed 5,000 

Highways destroyed, kiloms 52,000 

Land devastated (about one-half cultivated), acres.. 9,386,000 

Mines in northern France, years required to repair. . 10 
Reduced production of these mines annually, tons. . . .21,000,000 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 113 

Justice . . . would take off the burden from France and put it upon 
Germany. That is impossible. But it is not impossible to compel 
Germany to do all that she can do to repair the wrong which she has 
committed. Thus full reparation from Germany to France is demanded 
alike by justice to France and good will to Germany. 

There is no place in Christian philosophy for the spirit of revenge. 
But there is place in Christian philosophy for stern and exacting jus- 
tice. . . . 

Good will would desire for Germany that as a nation she should 
awake to a realization of her national sin and her national shame ; and, 
because she realizes the wrong she has committed, should voluntarily 
endeavor to repair the evil she has done. If she does not, then good 
will for Germany demands that she be compelled to repair that evil, 
whatever it may cost her. In the infliction of that cost may be one 
evidence of good will, for, if repentance is always followed by attempted 
reparation, it is also true that reparation enforced by a superior power 
often awakens a tardy repentance. It is not desirable for either Ger- 
many or the rest of the civilized world that she should be received back 
into the world's fellowship until she repents of her crime. A revived 
conscience is for her far more important than a revived trade. It is 
no spirit of good will for Germany which desires to treat her as a 
civilized nation before she becomes a civilized nation. It is a spirit of 
laziness. It desires to avoid the difficult and disagreeable task of com- 
pelling an unrepentant sinner to repair the cruel wrong she has done. . . . 

She cannot give back to France the noble monuments of past cen- 
turies so wantonly destroyed. What she can do must be left to be de- 
cided, not by popular vote, but by experts. But the public opinion of all 
the civilized nations of the globe should unitedly insist that no cost can 
be too great for Germany to pay unless it is so great that she cannot 
pay it. . . . 

In 1914 petty wisdom, self-indulgence, and heartlessness won the 
victory in Germany. But not without some protest against the war by 
Germans. . . . Loyalty to those who maintained their loyalty to justice 
and liberty under such difficulties demands that we should prove that 
the representatives of self-indulgence and heartlessness were wrong and 
the representatives of justice and liberty were right. The English, 
French, Italians, and Americans are not all saints; the Germans are 
not all devils. We owe to the lovers of liberty in Germany, however 
few, a stern and uncompromising hostility to the enemies of liberty in 
Germany, however many or strong or rich they may be. 

Sternly demand reparation ; cordially welcome every sign of a new 
and better life; to this both justice to France and the spirit of good will 
toward Germany summon us. In the spirit to which Abraham Lincoln 
summoned America to enter in the work of national reconstruction be 
it ours to enter on the greater work of international reconstruction to 



114 AMERICA'S STAKE IX EUROPE 

which wc are now summoned. — Lyman Abbott, LL.D., Outlook^ March 
ici. [921. 

The dominant thought of the American people throughout Amer- 
ican participation in the war was that German militarism must be 
destroyed forever. This thought, which inspired soldiers and civilians 
alike in their efforts to attain victory, was the result of the succession 

of events which had gradually taught the masses oi our people that our 
fate as a tree nation was at Stake from the inception of German ag 
gression upon France and Belgium, because that aggression was aimed 
at all human liberty, bather the aggressor was to be vanquished and 
kept disarmed, making a renewal of the onslaught impossible, or the 
State of armed peace in which Europe bad lived as it on the brink of 
a volcano since Prussia's attacks on her neighbors began sixty years 
ago must inevitably be extended to us and keep us not only trained tor 
war but armed to the teeth at all times, lest a conflagration started in 
one corner of the world should reach the edifice of our national well- 
being, and endanger its existence. That way lies ruin, under the weight 
of taxation superadded to existing war debt to pay tor another war of 
even greater proportions. 

By the Treat) of Versailles it is provided that Germany shall be 
disarmed and shall remain disarmed. It is vital to every tree nation that 
the treaty in this respect shall be lived up to in letter and spirit. The 
fate of limitation of armaments, that is to say. of the maintenance of 
armaments at a reasonable minimum, is at stake. Unless the authors of 
the most stupendous aggression on human liberty since the beginning 
of time are kept in a state of disarmament it is idle to expect that any 
free nation will risk its fate on the outcome oi vague hopes of human 
good-will lacking the foundation of an existing condition of safety. — 
Maurice 1 eon. Review o tvs, February, to.t. p. 159. 

We must not be asked to dwell upon the horrors of the Rhine when 
our hearts are still heavy with the sorrow of the Marne. We must not 
be asked to bury our grievances before we have finished burying our 
dead. We must not be asked to grasp the bloody hands so recently 
lifted to slay the civilization of the world while our duty calls us to 
hold up the hands of those who saved that civilization. We must not 
be asked to relapse into a sterilized neutrality which makes us forget the 
difference between right and wrong. We must not be asked to take part 
in splitting the spirit of the Allies by compromising with the incorrigible 
criminality of the common enemy. . . . 

We do not persist in the feelings which the war aroused because 
we hate, but rather because we love. Tis not alone because we hate 
the great, iron, ruthless machine which Germany drove across the fair 
bosom of the world — vet God knows we do hate it — but rather because 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 115 

wc love those fine traditions of liberty and justice whose altars we 
builded here in this far away place, on these distant shores. It is not 

alone because we hate that grim, grisly, organized war party at the head 
of the German Government who, with their long, lean fingers clutched 
at the very throat of an unarmed civilization — yet God knows we do 
hate it — but it is rather more because we love that civilization which 
they would have destroyed, and do not intend that it shall ever be sub- 
jected again to the danger and menace of such a lust for power. 

I he real difficulty is the war never came to an end. It was truly an 
armistice. Nobody was ever punished, nobody ever made to suffer, 
except those youths of all countries who died in their country's nam". 
The great criminals back of the war, the great conspirators who plotted it 
and the great devils who executed it, have been allowed to retire in 
quiet and security, to write books teeming with falsehoods concerning 
its causes and conduct. — Martin W. Littleton, address at meeting of 
the American Legion, Madison Square Garden, New York Gity, New 
York Times, March 19, 192 1. 

Nobody can call the Treaty of Versailles perfect; but why should 
we expect this, of all human acts, to be perfect? Every one of us 
can criticize details of it, and could wish that some of the problems had 
been handled differently. Most of the sentimentali ever, who now 

belabor us, have as their underlying complaint that it is too severe on 
Germany. They forget that there are millions of men and women, 
mostly silent, whose complaint is that it is not severe enough on Ger- 
many. These millions may be wrong, but the fact of their opinion was 
a factor in the settlement. Their conscience, their sense of justice, 
their ideas of fair play and of mercy, were outraged during the war 
by the brutal crime , of Germany. Even in the fighting they felt that 
they were not merely defeating an enemy, certainly not outwitting a 
rival, but were judging a criminal. 

If they were sure that there was any sign of repentance, they 
would feel easier in their mind in accepting a full policy of concilia- 
tion. It is truly said that men cannot be judges of sincere repentance, 
which, after all, is a quality of the heart. But there are "outward and 
visible signs" of any inward state. While nobody can ever be sure of 
the reality of repentance, everybody is sure that it cannot be without, 
at least, certain outward marks. All theology, from the time of the 
Schoolmen, has asserted that for repentance there must be these three 
elements — contrition, confession, and satisfaction. A man must express 
sorrow, admit guilt, and offer amendment as far as possible. The only 
regret expressed by Germany is for failure ; the only confession is of 
mistake, not of crime; and there is a universal attempt to avoid all 
restitution. 

We go over the details of the agreement to which Germany gave 



n6 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

her signature. One was that the French flags were to be returned — and 
they were burned in Berlin to avoid the wound to pride. Another was 
that the fleet was to be handed over — and it was sunk at Scapa Flow. . . . 
Nothing has been done except in response to the threat of force. Every 
possible evasion has been resorted to. 

This may be an argument against the Treaty. If so, it is an argu- 
ment against all treaties, and we may as well deal with them as scraps 
of paper. . . . Many men throughout all the nations would be less 
fearful of the future, if they were convinced that the present German 
government has been purged of all militarist spirit. It is part of that 
government's punishment that only time will remove such suspicions. 
It is to be noted that, so far, there is no information of a repeal of the 
obnoxious law of double allegiance, which authorizes a German to give 
pretended allegiance to another government while secretly remaining a 
German citizen. Frank assurance of the sincerity of German purpose, 
which would reestablish confidence, would do much to make this earth 
a place where self-respecting nations could live. — Hugh Black, Atlantic 
Monthly, February, 1921, pp. 265, 266. 

Germany Should Be Helped 
Germany's Welfare Essential to Europe's Recovery 

Whatever may be our feelings, Germany cannot be wiped out. The 
Germans have passed through these trials before. They had the Thirty 
Years' War and the Seven Years' War. They can be reduced, but they 
cannot be extinguished. 

The military party is quietly in control, but the Hohenzollerns will 
never come back. You can feel that the Germans are not at heart demo- 
crats. It will take a generation to change the spirit of a Germany 
brought up under military rule, and it will take two generations for the 
Germans to think for themselves politically. But despotism is broken 
down. . . . 

To help the world we must help Germany; the whole body suffers 
because Germany is so important a member. The patient is Europe, and 
at first examination his heart is very weak. Strengthen that and the 
other organs will get strong. We don't say it out of love, but Germany 
is the heart of Europe. . . . 

The Germans are the only people with location and ability to put 
order back in Russia, and if Germany is set going again she will look 
to Russia for profitable development rather than to western competition. 

The Germans will colonize industrially in Russia, and they are the 
only people to do it. The only hope for Russia is through com- 
merce. . . . 

It will be a span for more than one generation before Germany can 
ever fight again with her own men. Her man power is gone and cannot 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 117 

be reproduced in a generation. Not for thirty years can she contemplate 
war, and then another thirty years would be required to prepare for 
it. . . . 

There is no camouflage concerning the pinched legs of the children 
of the upper Rhine which told me the primary truth. If the children 
have been pinched in that rich valley, they cannot be better off toward 
Vienna. 

You can read the history of the war in the faces of the people 
as well as in the little legs of the children thirty months after the 
Armistice. You can then understand the desperate game that Germany 
played with her women and children after the first defeat at the battle 
of the Marne settled the issue. 

The Germans put the food to the front to brace the fighting line, 
and starved the women and children to sterility. Enter any German 
home even in the upper classes and you will find the women still pinched, 
shrunk and under weight. Walk down the Unter den Linden with in- 
tention to count the war-wounded and you are shocked, not at the number 
of one-legged or one-armed or disfigured, although these are more 
plentiful than in France or England, which conceals its hospital scars, 
but you are shocked at the number of idiots, the shell-shocked and the 
nervously strained. I not only saw them, but I had other people count 
them. When I asked the American journalists in Berlin for an estimate 
of how many people counted in the streets showed the shock of war 
either in limb or in countenance, they replied that they had estimated 
on the average every other person. . . . 

Germany must be considered for many years as ruined in man power, 
child power and mother power, but not in lands, buildings or ma- 
chinery, although the lands have been under-fertilized for many years 
and are not now producing as formerly. — C. W. Barron, Barron's, June 
6, 192 1. 

Public and statesmen alike must learn the meaning of the word 
"interdependence." . . . Not merely must enemy restoration be permit- 
ted, but constructive arrangements in the way of access to raw ma- 
terials, to the sea across neighboring states, must be made for ensuring 
that result, so that the enemy be not pushed to enforce it by a revival of 
his power. Means of honest livelihood, on condition of good behavior, 
must be offered the criminal in order that he shall not be compelled to 
resort to dishonest means. All these things must be done, not primarily 
for the welfare of the criminal but for the welfare of society; for our 
welfare. — Norman Angell, Contemporary Review, January, 1920, p. 44. 

A Duty Owed to the Vanquished 

There is a . . . duty that we owe to the vanquished. No country 
will lie crushed forever; and they too, whenever they show that it is 



n8 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

possible to trust them, must necessarily be admitted to the comity of 
nations. Every one who pays any attention to the facts of the case 
must necessarily see that this is so. Now, it is possible to pour contempt 
upon our fallen enemy, and to continue our reproaches so that he will 
become further embittered, and will secretly plan future revenges and 
prepare means to execute them. Those for whom your only attitude is 
contempt, are not likely by that treatment to be made fitter for the 
duties which you are already demanding of them in view of future 
days. The need for self-respect in the vanquished is as important almost as 
the need for bread, and it were well if we were on the outlook for all 
opportunities of fostering it. We should welcome all expressions of a 
change of mind in our former enemies. We should, as soon and as far 
as it is possible to do so, trust them to act on different principles in the 
future. In the meantime this will only be possible when it is safe- 
guarded by sufficient guarantees of good faith; but everything should 
certainly be done to hasten the time when that intolerable situation 
will be over, and we shall all be striving for a common future of human 
well-being. — John Kelman, "Some Aspects of International Christian- 
ity," pp. 26-28. 

The Upbuilding of Democracy in Germany 

Those of us who have had occasion to study the situation in Ger- 
many since the revolution have realized full well that the men who 
represent sentiment for democracy as it exists in the German people need 
encouragement. Unless the hands of these democratic leaders can be 
upheld there will be neither reparation nor permanent peace. If we 
wish to take really constructive steps abroad, then we must see to the 
upbuilding of democracy in Germany. This is the hope of world peace. 
In showing that group of men some support in the problems of their 
people and our high sense of charity for children, America is supporting 
that only hope of peace. — Herbert Hoover, quoted by Isaac Marcosson, 
Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1921. 

Material and Moral Conditions of Survival 

It is hard to say how Germany can work itself out of its present 
calamitous condition. The evils of the situation have made such head- 
way that they cannot be overcome except with foreign help. The only 
country in a position to extend a large credit to Germany is America. 
. . . Everything would have been different and better if the blockade 
had been lifted with the Armistice, and raw materials permitted to reach 
us. The eight-months' Armistice blockade is what crushed Germany 
beyond hope. . . . 

Healthy democratic progress is . . . dependent in Germany upon 
a recovery of economic health. . . . We must have raze materials and 
credit. Unless ive do obtain them we are in constant danger of Bol- 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 119 

shcvism on the one hand and of counter-revolution on the other. Either 
of these would precipitate the final and complete ruin of Germany and 
constitute a common peril for all Europe; for the counter-revolution 
would ultimately result in Bolshevism. . . . 

There is general fear in Germany that peace will not he possihle 
for our people, but that we still face a moral prolongation of the war, 
only conducted by a different method. This fear lies like a weight of 
lead upon every German heart, and will continue to do so until some of 
the most oppressive conditions imposed by the Treaty have been revised. 
Until that happens, and so long as Germany's economic life is rendered 
insecure by those conditions, and the whole situation is thus imperiled, 
the possibility of a desperate revolt continues. The German people 
understands full well that, for a long period to come, it is doomed, not 
only to the hardest toil, but also to a meager and impoverished way of 
living. It is resigned to this, and feels that it is able to survive such 
conditions, thanks to its new democratic and social organization, but 
only if its obligations are made endurable, and are clearly defined, and 
are fundamentally just. Should it be otherwise, even democracy has no 
future in Germany; for a healthy plant can grow only in healthy soil 
and healthy air. . . . 

Before Germany is judged by foreign countries, their peoples must 
be made to understand that, even before the war and throughout the 
war, there were two Germanys — a military Germany and a democratic 
Germany. Military Germany is crushed and will not revive. A person 
who is intimidated by the spectre of it. threatened resurrection either 
does not know the present conditions in Germany, or he wishes to utilize 
the peace in Germany to continue the war against that country. Demo- 
cratic Germany, however, will not be able to survive unless her former 
opponents, who were able to win complete success in the war only after 
the United States joined their coalition, grant her the material and moral 
conditions that make such survival possible. — Paul Rohrbach, Atlantic 
Monthly, May, 1920, pp. 693, 696, 697, 699. 

I should . . . say, as an honest American, that Germany's defeat 
was due to my country's participation in the war, that the present situa- 
tion in Germany is predicated on this complete defeat, and that, there- 
fore, my own country is, in part, responsible for the situation. We can 
not wash our hands of the consequences. The more lofty our talk the 
greater our responsibility. If we desire disarmament, honestly and 
truly mean what we have all along professed and still profess as a 
democratic nation, then it is our solemn duty, now too long neglected, 
to see to it that the vicious principle we hoped to crush by defeating 
Germany be not practiced against Germany by any of those to whose 
mercies we left a defeated foe. I know, it is human to feel and to 
assert that the fate now meted out to .Germany was planned by Ger- 



[20 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

many in respect to France and possibly other nations. But this Eeeling 
and this assertion is sheer Colly as an argument, 1 can sympathize 
with the French people's apprehension of German "revanche" and 1 
can well understand how this apprehension might be played upon by 
certain persons. Given similar conditions, we Americans should feel as 
the French feel, and be even more easily betrayed by an appeal to our 

apprehensions. In my heart there is no accusing voice against the 
French people. But tor this very reason it is the more imperative to 
speak plainly, — John Firman Coar, Weekly Review, September to, 1921, 
P. 228. 

Hope for New Life in Germany 

Stoxs OF RENEWED VITALITY 

The deeper student of character does not lose heart. Bent the na- 
tion may he. broken it is not. Signs of renewed vitality show among 
the ruins. Devotion to work is on the increase: piece-work is no longer 
in disfavor; overtime is readily undertaken; the output of coal is rising, 
and the balance oi trade improving. These outward symptoms all point 
to the same fundamental fact, namely, that Germany, in spite of her 
poor endowment in point of raw materials — one-third of these cut off 
by the Peace Treaty — is not shaken in point of the ability of her people. 
The war has not sapped her capacities, technical, commercial, or organ- 
izing. Habits of industry and skill are an heritage of the German 
people, such as are nowhere excelled. Her abilities, having been de- 
prived of their military outlet, are free to expand in works of peace. 
Before the war Germany was the great workshop of Continental Europe. 
Europe, impoverished by the war. cannot recuperate without setting this 
workshop in operation once more. — Gerhard Von Schulze-Gaevernitz, 
Conti°mpo>\vy Review, December, [920, pp. 802, 803. 

A Return to Native Idealism 

German} was terribly defeated, much more so. 1 feel, than Amer- 
icans realize. She is not penitent in the sense that many Americans, 
particularly "bitter enders." would hope to see. but we must remember 
that the Germans have been a proud people and they can hardly be 
expected to throw overboard at once their national pride which hail 
been developing in logical steps through the past century's growth oi 
their empire. 

There are members oi the old militaristic group and pan-Germans 
who unquestionably, as individuals, have in mind some form of revenge 
and who would, if they were able, restore the monarchy and develop a 
great army and navy. Hut those oi us engaged in bringing American 
relief to innocent children and mothers have been in close touch with 
great masses of the population and have learned to know people of the 
working class as well as the burgher and educated classes. 1, for one, 



ATTITUDE TOWARD GERMANY 121 

feel reasonably sure that this great majority are through with the war 
and as long as they are able to maintain democracy in government, they 
will never allow their fatherland to develop again the top-heavy military 
structure which caused their downfall. I believe it would be impossible 
for any one of the seven political parties, which now thrive in Germany, 
to prosper if it espoused the cause of militarism and maintained it as a 
plank in its party platform. The only possibility of such a militaristic 
development would be through a reaction to a Communist or Bolshevik 
regime which might follow the present Socialistic one. . . . 

Yet a Communist development is unlikely, in spite of the propaganda 
which is continually poured into that section of Germany just west of 
Poland, and even if Poland itself proves too weak to withstand its tide. 
The rank and file of the working people in Germany are close enough to 
see Bolshevism as it is practiced in Russia. We found them taking to 
heart the report of the delegation which had been sent there to study the 
system and which reported unfavorably. And they have also taken to 
heart the failure of the recent soviet experiment in Italian industries. 

Rather we found the people turning, not eastward to a militant Bol- 
shevism, but back into their own essentially native idealism. Germany 
is groping to find again the trail of true culture. — D. Robert Yarnall, 
Survey, March 19, 192 1, pp. 882, 883. 

Holding Out Hopes of Magnanimity 

The thirst for learning [in Germany] since the close of the war has 
become abnormal. Students attending the universities are one-third in 
excess of the capacity. They are young men and women drawn from 
every class and welded together by an almost painful enthusiasm for 
democracy. The sacrifices which they make to gain an education some- 
times reach the point of martyrdom. ... It is to such people that the 
American and British Friends are ministering. They realize that, if 
there is ever to be peace between the sons and daughters of the nations 
who fought, the peace must commence in the heart. . . . 

The youth of Germany have established an invisible system of 
trenches in every home, every school, every university. Though they 
may not know it and would perhaps disown it, they are banded together 
to withstand that same intolerance of autocracy which hurried lovers of 
freedom from the ends of the earth that it might be crushed on the 
Western Front. 

These new armies which are re-winning the old battle have given 
themselves a name ; they call themselves the Freie Deutsche Jugend — 
the Free Youth of Germany. Their ranks are made up of girls as 
well as boys. In isolated instances they are organized, but for the most 
part they are knights-errant. . . . 

There are three points in their movement which deserve to be made 
emphatic. The first is that they are absolutely correct in their assertion 



122 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

that the children of the Allies were never at war with the children of 
Germany. The second is that the Free Youth of Germany are fighting 
for precisely the same ideals for which the Allies fought, and are doing 
their fighting on German soil where it will be most effective. The third 
is that they are showing a spirit of regeneration which, if it is en- 
couraged, will become the national spirit of tomorrow. For the safety 
of the world, if for no less selfish reason, their movement deserves the 
Allies' consideration. . . . 

Very naturally while middle-aged Germany is caviling over repara- 
tions and eluding engagements, the charitably disposed publics of the 
Allies are unwilling to respond to appeals for help. Their old war 
hatreds have no sooner shown signs of subsiding than some new cause 
is given by Berlin for suspicion and offense. In spite of this, the point 
which cannot be made too emphatic is that it is middle-aged Germany, 
the contriver of the war, which is creating these offenses. Young Ger- 
many is no party to them. It is just that a distinction should be made 
between the new and the old. The new is fighting our battle for us. 
In the universities it is fighting the professors who insist on teaching 
reactionary doctrines. The students being young, are sick and tired of 
the glorification of the old, bad past. They insist on starting with today 
and looking forward. If we desire it, we can have them for our friends. 

Not to desire it would be a crime which is unpardonable. We 
fought a war which we said was to be the last; if through our lack of 
generous response we fling the youth of Germany back into the arms 
of the reactionaries, we are preparing a future war. Quite apart from 
decency and humanity, it is statesmanly and economic to hold out hopes 
of magnanimity. If we hoard foodstuffs today and insist on a policy of 
revenge, we shall be expending tomorrow on shells a thousand times 
the money we have saved. The rejected idealist is the least forgiving 
antagonist and the Free Youth of Germany are a volcano of idealism. 
They deserve our sympathy. They sincerely want to be our friends. 
They have rejected their own elders and look to us for guidance. They 
are young birds who have been wounded. They have never spread their 
wings. In listening to their talk, all the time one has the picture of 
fledglings trying to lift themselves from the ground. To destroy a bad 
world was necessary; but to help build a good one is braver. As far as 
young Germany is concerned, the hour is ripe for relenting. If we 
allow it to escape us, it will not be ourselves, but our children who will 
have to bear the consequences. — Coningsby Dawson, "It Might Have 
Happened to You," pp. 145, 147, 149. 



CHAPTER X 

WHAT IS THE BEARING OF RUSSIA'S DISTRESS 
ON AMERICA'S DESTINY? 

I. Present Conditions in Russia 

1. What seem to you to be the present outstanding facts with 
regard to conditions in Russia? Where do you get your in- 
formation ? Do you consider it reliable ? Why does the world 
seem to have had so little definite information about what has 
been happening in Russia? 

2. How do different groups with which you may be related feel 
about Russia's present condition? 

3. Just why has the rest of the world been so bitter against 
Russia? What justification, if any, do you feel there has been 
for this attitude ? 

II. Soviet Government, Promise, or Menace?* 

1. What is the Bolshevist idea? 

2. What steps led up to the establishment of the present regime ? 

3. When you hear the word Bolshevism what does it mean to 
you? Just what are meant by the Bolshevist regime and the 
"dictatorship of the proletariat"? 

4. How does Soviet government differ from commonly accepted 
forms of government? 

5. Why is it under suspicion by other governments? 

6. What effect have the pronouncements of the dominant Com- 
munist party respecting other governments had on the Amer- 
ican public and official mind? 

7. How far are conditions in Russia due to Bolshevik leader- 
ship? How far to the military collapse and the downfall of 
orderly government under the autocracy? How far to the 
blockade and the counter-revolutionary efforts since Russia 
withdrew from the ranks of the Allies? 



*The questions under this section are likely to prove too technical for profitable discussion 
in the average forum. They are inserted as indicating topics which should be kept in mind in 
reading current periodicals, and also to meet the needs of such classes and forums as may have 
occasion to use them. 

123 



I2 4 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

8. How far do you ascribe the tragic famine conditions in Rus- 
sia to natural causes, and how far to social and economic 
breakdown incident to revolutionary upheavals profoundly af- 
fecting Russian life in its every phrase and in every community ? 

9. What are the democratic and undemocratic features of the 
Constitution of Federated Soviet Republics? 

10. Should the Soviet experiment be opposed as a menace or 
should the Russian people be given a chance to work out the 
experiment ? 

11. To what extent has the Soviet principle of government been 
realized ; to what extent has it been invalidated by military 
measures and official usurpations ? 

III. Effect of Allied Policies on Russia* 

1. What has been the policy of the Allied powers toward Russia? 
Why have they assumed an antagonistic attitude to the 
Bolshevik regime? 

2. What has been the effect upon conditions in Russia of the 
blockade and the stimulation of counter-revolutions by influ- 
ences outside Russia? 

3. Upon the whole what factors lead you to believe that the 
Allied treatment of Russia has been justified; what factors 
lead you to doubt the wisdom of the Allied attitude? 

IV. Significance of Events in Russia 

1. How does Russia bulk in importance in world territory and 
affairs? Take into consideration comparative population, po- 
tential food production, potential trade demands, geographical 
position between the Occident and the Orient, and the impli- 
cations of Russian political, social, and economic experiments. 

2. "Russia is the decisive factor in the history of the world at 
the present time. You may abandon Russia, but Russia will 
not abandon you. You cannot remake the world without Rus- 
sia." Do you feel that what is happening in Russia is of little 
or of profound significance for the rest of the world? Why? 

V. America, Friend or Foe of Russia? 

1. Just what has been America's official attitude toward Russia? 

♦The questions under this section are likely to prove too technical for profitable discussion 
in the average forum. They are inserted as indicating topics which should be kept in mind in 
reading current periodicals, and also to meet the needs of such classes and forums as may have 
occasion to use them. 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 125 

How far does America's official attitude seem to have been 
justified by succeeding events? 

2. Is it best after the overthrow of autocracy in Russia that the 
Russian people should struggle through experimentation to 
discover for themselves what type of government best suits 
their needs, or that some sort of government should be set up 
and undergirded by force from without rather than that strife, 
bloodshed and suffering should go on indefinitely? Ought Rus- 
sia to be left to flounder her way through to some sort of 
political or social order without interference from without, re- 
gardless of disorder, suffering and starvation ? 

3. What should be done with Bolshevist propagandists in Amer- 
ica? How far do you feel that there is in America a tendency 
toward a movement essentially Bolshevist in nature? Do you 
sympathize with it or fear it? What responsibility, if any, is 
upon Russia for the presence of radical tendencies in American 
life? Why? 

4. What guiding principles do civilized nations follow in decid- 
ing whether to recognize a new and revolutionary government ? 

5. What attitude should America take toward the Bolshevist 
regime ? 

a. Starve it out by cutting off trade. 

b. Put up barriers against its spread. 

c. Actively try to overthrow it. 

d. Give a chance for free experimentation with the idea that 
it may throw light upon improved types of governmental 
and economic systems. 

6. A vast people, suffering unspeakably and beyond comprehen- 
sion, staggers towards death individually and nationally, 
under a leadership regarded by many outside Russia as sur- 
passingly and prophetically great, and by others as terribly and 
tragically brutal, selfish and mistaken. What measure of claim 
does the situation have upon our sympathy and help? How 
best can we help? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

Difficulties in Knowing and Understanding Russian Affairs 

Search for News Punishable 

By the simple but sufficient process of making independent search 
for news in Russia punishable by torture, imprisonment or death, the 



126 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

whole of Russia and Siberia — S,66o,ooo square miles and with a popu- 
lation of 180,000,000 — is shut oft from the civilized world. It would 
have once seemed incredible that the stretch from Vladivostok should 
furnish no information to any newspaper except through men who are 
"under control," who see only what is shown them. — Review of Reviews, 
March, 1921, p. 246. 

An Unsolved Mystery 

If Russia is. in Berdyaeff's words, "even for us Russians an un- 
solved mystery." it becomes evident how extraordinarily difficult it is 
for foreigners even with that first-hand experience of the Russian people 
and Russian conditions during recent decades, without which there 
cannot be even a basis for independent judgment, to pronounce upon 
the situation as it is today. — J. Y. Simpson, Nineteenth Century and 
After, January, 1920, p. 76. 

Even Statesmen Without Solid Knowledge 

Our ignorance of what Bolshevism in Russia really represents is 
appalling. For more than two years the public has been mainly fed 
on the wrong kind of propaganda. The propaganda we really need 
would show that what the Bolsheviks are doing in Russia does not and 
never can bring paradisal conditions. Now. to effect this, facts are 
necessary, and these remain mostly unknown to the general public, 
though not only to the public. Even our statesmen have not much 
solid knowledge about the situation in Russia. — V. PoliakofF, Nineteenth 
Century and After, September, 1920, p. 432. 

No Freedom of Press, Speech ok Action 

Such information as the Soviet Government sends abroad is either 
visionary or false. The details furnished by escaped prisoners or re- 
leased foreigners are pretty certainly colored or prejudiced. . . . Un- 
fortunately the great majority of such newspaper correspondents as 
have been admitted to Soviet Russia . . . have had their records care- 
fully investigated beforehand by competent Bolshevik authorities, who 
have felt sure that under the guidance assigned them these reporters 
would send out nothing detrimental to the Bolshevik cause. . . . 

Very few have come out of Russia recently who have had oppor- 
tunities to judge men and events, who have been allowed to see the 
entire horizon and thus been capable of drawing unbiased conclusions. 

The true state of affairs is so pathetic in its utter failure and so 
terrible in its results to innocent millions that it would scarcely be be- 
lieved were it to be laid bare in its awful reality. There is no freedom 
of press, speech nor action. — John A. Gade, North American Review, 
January, 192 1, pp. 56, 57. 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 127 

Soviet Government: Promise or Menace? 

Bolshevism and Soviet Government 

Bolsheviks. A nickname originally applied to the majority at the 
second congress of the Russian Socialist Party in 1903, as opposed to the 
Mensheviki, or minority. At that time the two wings differed merely 
on the subject of party administration; in the course of time, however, 
the breach between the two kept ever widening. The Mensheviks advo- 
cate social transformation through a process of gradual reform and 
education of the masses, while the Bolsheviki are International Com- 
munists, their program including a revolution of the proletariat of all 
countries and government control by, and in the interest of, the prole- 
tariat, to the exclusion of all others. — "New International Year Book, 
IW" P. 93- 

The word Bolshevik, which means "belonging to the majority," 
was originally applied to the left or radical wing of the Russian Socialist- 
Democratic party at the time of the split in 1903. — Savel Zimand, "Mod- 
ern Social Movements," p. 229. 

The word Bolshevism ... is used to describe the policy and actions 
of a certain group in Russia; it is used to characterize a certain phil- 
osophy of society; and it is used to describe an active world movement 
based on this philosophy. — Henry C. Emery, "Bolshevism : A World 
Menace," p. 1. 

The term Social Democracy is unscientific. . . . Mankind can only 
pass from capitalism into socialism, that is, public ownership of the 
means of production and the distribution of products according to in- 
dividual work. Our party looks farther ahead than that : socialism is 
bound sooner or later to ripen into communism, which banner bears 
the motto "from each according to his ability, to each according to his 
needs." The second part of the term Social Democracy is scientifically 
wrong. Democracy is only a form of authority. We . . . are opposed 
to every form of authority. — Lenin and Trotzky, "The Proletarian Revo- 
lution in Russia," pp. 153, 154. 

The Soviet state established in Russia in November, 1917, has . . . 
assumed authority to the extent of a virtual dictatorship, supposedly 
only for the transition period, during which it claims as its mission to 
eradicate the causes of social inequality by making all citizens workers 
by either head or hand. . . . 

The political structure of the Soviet state is roughly as follows: 
Every factory and group of peasants elects its local soviet, or council. 
These units are represented in the town and district Soviets, which in 
turn send delegates to the all-Russian Congress of Soviets. The dele- 
gates can be recalled at any time. This congress, held at least once a 



uS AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

year, appoints a Central Executive Committee of 200 members, giving 
proportionate representation to the various political parties. The Ex- 
ecutive Committee appoints the commissaries, in charge of foreign af- 
fairs, education, finance, justice, etc., who form the Council of People's 
Commissaries, or cabinet. 

The economic soviet organization is centralized in the Supreme 
Council of Public Economy, a cabinet department, whose membership 
of 69 consists of 30 representatives from industrial unions, 20 from re- 
gional councils. 10 from the Central Executive Committee, 7 from 
the Council of People's Commissaries, and 2 from the cooperatives. 
The Supreme Council appoints three delegates to the Central Board of 
Management of each of the principal industries organized on a national 
scale. — Save! Zimand, "Modern Social Movements," pp. 229, 230. 

Soviets are not identical with Bolshevism, and do not necessarily 
imply the dominance of Bolshevik theories and policies. The present 
Soviet state is, however, dominated by Bolshevik theories — Savel 
Zimand, "Modern Social Movements," p. 229. 

Bolshevism a Menace to the World 

If we could contrive for a moment to cease to be deluded by the 
sound of words; if we could bring ourselves to look at things instead; 
we should see that democracy is in deadly peril. It is menaced with 
utter subsidence and complete overthrow. Throughout the enormous 
realm in Europe and in Asia now dominated by the ruthless fiends who 
serve the Russian despots, a tyranny has been established at once more 
savage, more penetrative, and more all-embracing, than any known 
previously amongst men. And wherever Bolshevism triumphs in future, 
wherever anarchy usurps the place of order, there the like sequel will 
inevitably ensue. This is the unending lesson of history, repeated from 
century to century, and yet ignored. — H. F. Wyatt, Nineteenth Century 
and After, February, 1920, p. 375. 

Nicholas Lenin and others now dominating the Russian Soviet Gov- 
ernment, have frankly and repeatedly announced, both in the years before 
they attained their present power and after, that their ultimate aim is to 
force the world into one great International Communist Republic, wiping 
out all national boundaries. Preliminary to this, all existing "capitalis- 
tic." that is to say non-Communist, governments in the world must be 
overthrown. The government of the United States is frequently 
specifically mentioned. — William English Walling, "Sovietism," p. 165. 

An apt description of the situation wherever the Bolsheviks succeed 
in establishing their domination was contained in the remark of a 
Russian friend of mine — "In our Russia there is no God, no religion, 
no czar, no money, no property, no commerce, no happiness, no safety, 
only freedom." 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 129 

And this is the wonderful new civilization we are asked to accept 
in exchange for our own. Peasants and manual workers are coerced as 
never before, industry is ruined, commerce reduced to a primeval con- 
dition of barter, and the population cowed and held in subjection. — 
R. Courtier-Forster, Nineteenth Century and After, March, 1920, p. 529. 

Let us get to rock bottom at once and make it clear that Bolshevism 
is not national, but anti-national. "Break down the frontiers," such is 
the keynote of the ambition of the Bolshevik leaders. To Lenin and 
Trotzky the names "Russia," "Germany," "France," etc., are mere 
geographical expressions. "Perish Russia," said Lenin as he seized the 
government of that ill-starred country. His dream is not confined to 
Russia, because he aims at setting up Soviet Governments in Washing- 
ton and in London, in Ottawa and in Simla, as he has done in Petrograd 
and in Moscow. — A British Staff Officer, quoted by George Aston, 
Fortnightly Review, August, 1920, p. 239. 

Some Bolsheviks Are Builders of a New World Order 

The revolution in Russia has been the awakening out of sleep of the 
millions on the European and on the Asiatic side of the Ural Mountains. 
For the moment it is dominated and obscured by the actions of a few, 
the predominant section of the Bolsheviks, who have attempted to im- 
pose their will upon its mighty forces. But amongst the Bolsheviks 
there are real communists, real idealists, real builders of a new world 
order. These men, now in a minority, want peace, want cooperation, 
they want to build and not to destroy. 

If we get a real peace with Russia it is these men who will prevail, 
a regime of cooperation with other men of goodwill will be set up, and 
the rule of force, terror, and bloodshed will be ended. And Russia 
and Siberia, by industrial, political, and health organization, and by 
education, will be brought into the comity of the Western civilization 
of the world. 

The future of the world depends on the vividness and actuality of 
the conceptions of international cooperation and human brotherhood in 
political affairs. The Russian, with his fine artistic sense and his subtle 
appreciation of spiritual realities, has much to teach us and much to add 
to the world's store of good. Ours is preeminently the duty to make 
the future of international cooperation possible by insisting, against 
any and every enemy, on peace. — L. Haden Guest, Joint Secretary of 
the British Labor Delegation to Russia, Nineteenth Century and After, 
November, 1920, pp. 907, 908. 

The Forward March of the Russian Nation 

What will be achieved . . . from out of the turmoil and travail 
of revolution is that Russia will have made twenty years' progress in 



130 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

five years, that the stirring of the minds of the people by the events of 
today will leave a definite mark on the forward march of the Russian 
nation, that when the lava has ceased to flow and the volcano's glare 
grows less and less lurid in the eastern sky, the vineyards will once 
more give forth their luscious fruit, a new fertility will spring up 
throughout the neighboring lands, and a happier, better and enlightened 
Russia will emerge from out of the womb of suffering. Such will be 
the true accomplishment of the revolution. . . . 

Progress through convulsion, evolution through turmoil, seems to 
be the destined fate of Russia. By turning her face to the East she 
could find repose, but a repose that would only mean stagnation and 
decay. The cry is to the West, the law is advance or die. And thus she 
plunges onward, laughing at the warnings of those wiser than herself, 
confident of her extraordinary energy when once roused, disillusioned 
again and again, but struggling more and more fiercely to bridge the 
gulf to the West. . . . 

For extremism is the elixir of life to a Russian. And Lenin is as 
extreme as Peter the Great. History will surely link their lives to- 
gether as the men who sought to graft a Western civilization on an 
Eastern people, and who brought progress to Russia through a stupen- 
dous convulsion. — Herbert Bailey, Fortnightly Reviezv, October, 1920, 
pp. 571, 572. 

A Gigantic Effort of Creation 

In spite of the physical misery, ... in spite of much intolerance and 
much callousness, in spite even of the suppression of political liberty, 
I had the sense [while in Russia] that I was watching a gigantic effort 
of creation. . . . The positive work of the Revolution, whether one saw 
it in the factory, the farm or the school, is an epic triumph, not only 
over foreign enemies and the armed reaction, but also over these darker 
forces in the untaught Russian soul. ... I think that this Revolution 
will live to vindicate itself in history as the greatest effort of the con- 
structive human will since the French made an end of feudalism. Among 
. . . forces our own civilization has thrown up as yet none which can 
compare in efficacy with the egoistic motive of private gain. In Russia 
a social principle has, by violence, indeed, and a contemptuous disregard 
of democracy, made for itself an opportunity, which it uses with master- 
ful will. It has broken the power of wealth to control men's lives. It 
is acting, even when it coerces them, for the sole good of the masses. 
It is making, even if it be destined to overthrow, a superb monument to 
the human will. To evolve a victorious army from an invertebrate 
rabble, to rouse a lazy and apathetic nation, amid poverty and suffering, 
to a task which demanded an almost insane courage, to conceive the 
daring ambition of making a ruling caste out of young, unschooled work- 
men, was in itself an act of audacity to which time has no parallel. 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 131 

Beyond the bravery of this struggle there lies a much vaster design — 
to change the entire economic structure of this half-continent, and with 
it the mind of a race. There are those who believe that initiative, am- 
bition and the creative will are evolved only by the hope of personal 
gain. Here is initiative, here is the will to reshape and create, on a 
scale to which all our civilization together offers no parallel. 

Its actual achievement will be hampered by the original poverty 
and intellectual immaturity of Russia; it may be frustrated by the 
criminal enmity of Western politicians. ... It is, in a land where a 
feeble and dilatory civilization had touched as yet only a minute minority 
of a gifted population, a great and heroic attempt to shorten the dragging 
march of time, to bring culture to a whole nation, and to make a co- 
operative society where a predatory despotism, in the act of suicide, had 
prepared the general ruin. — Henry Noel Brailsford, "The Russian 
Workers' Republic," pp. 205, 206. 

Significance of Russia in the World's Life 

Gigantic Resources 

The Russian Empire within its limits of 1914 was forty times as 
large as the German Empire. It was more than twice as large as the 
United States. It was larger than the United States, China and India 
combined. Russia is very sparsely populated and has room for a gigantic 
population. The number of its inhabitants has increased from 45,000,000 
in 1815 to 174,000,000 in 1913. Russia may become the greatest human 
reservoir in the world, and man power determines military power. The 
principal characteristic of the Russian people is its docility. The Rus- 
sians might comparatively easily be made to fight Germany's battles. 
Besides, Russia possesses gigantic resources which can be developed 
to an almost unlimited extent. Before the war she produced 51 per cent 
of the world's rye, 25 per cent of the world's oats, 33 per cent of the 
world's barley, 22 per cent of the world's wheat. She possesses by far 
the largest agricultural plain in the world. She might, therefore, produce 
far more food than the United States, Canada and Argentina combined. 
In 1913 Russia had 34,000,000 horses, 51,000,000 cattle and 74,000,000 
sheep. She might, therefore, furnish unlimited numbers of military 
horses and equally unlimited quantities of meat, fat, leather and wool 
in case of a blockade. She has vast deposits of coal, iron ore, copper, 
zinc, salt, etc., and she produced in 1913 more petroleum than Rumania, 
Galicia, Mexico, the Dutch East Indies and British India combined. In 
her southern provinces she raises vast quantities of cotton, etc. — J. Ellis 
Barker, Fortnightly Review, August, 1920, pp. 206, 207. 

A Necessity to the Economic Existence of Europe 

Europe needs the food which Russia can supply. Russia is neces- 



132 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

sary to the economic existence of Europe, and the interest of the United 

States is almost equally involved. Until the products of Russian agri- 
culture flow freely once more into the channels of European trade the 
whole economic life of the world will be deranged. While it is of more 
immediate and vital importance to European nations, the quick restora- 
tion of Russia to her position as a great food-exporting nation is very 
important to the United States. There can be no real solution of the 
great problem presented by the high cost of food until Russia's products 
again find their way into the world market. There is not a wage-earner's 
family from Maine to California whose interests are not affected. It is 
not an exaggeration to say that what is called the Russian problem enters 
into the grocery bill of every American household. — John Spargo, 
"Russia as an American Problem.'' pp. 14. 15. 

A Germinating Field of Social and Political Experiment 

Russia is now the center of general attention, a germinating field of 
social and political experiment. ... In her recent past, in her present, 
and in her future she is closely woven into the general life of the globe. 
Intellectually, politically, socially, she lives with all the rest of the 
world, despite blockades; and the rest of the world lives with her. — 
Gregory Zilboorg. in Introduction to "The Passing of the Old Order in 
Europe," p. 11. 

America, Friend or Foe of Russia? 

Greatest Sufferer Among Great Nations 

Russia, continental, colossal, chaotic, appeals to us out of the depth 
of its starving agony. As Armenia among the smaller nations, Russia 
has suffered most of all the great nations of the world. After a thou- 
sand years of oppression, five centuries of czardom, and five years of 
war and its aftermath, can we blame this great people, generations be- 
hind the rest of Europe in progress, for blindly striving for liberty? 
The French Revolution sought the overthrow of political oppression, 
while the Russian Revolution has tried to sweep away at one stroke 
both political and social injustice and to establish a new social order. 
Can we Anglo-Saxons, who in England fought for our Magna Charta 
of liberty, and in colonial America resisted the least featherweight of 
injustice in the Stamp Act, blame this mass of struggling humanity for 
trying to throw off their bitter yoke of bondage? Behind all the fog of 
misrepresentation and the smoke of battle, the Russian people, re- 
nouncing the injustice of Bolshevism, may work out for all humanity 
a social solution such as the French Revolution worked out in the po- 
litical sphere. 

Russia today needs not words but deeds, not empty sympathy but 
practical help. ... If we go to her aid with no selfish or ulterior motive, 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 133 

with no desire for foreign exploitation, but for the welfare of her own 
people, we shall find that no nation on earth will so eagerly and grate- 
fully accept our help. If we cannot believe in Russia, we cannot believe 
in humanity. To be defeated there would be to be defeated everywhere. 
We are members one of another. The class hatred of an unjust, tri- 
umphant Bolshevism would be a menace to the world, while a democratic 
Russia will help to make the world safe for democracy. Let us not for 
a moment forget that the future of the Anglo-Saxon nations is bound 
up with the welfare of Russia. — Sherwood Eddy, "Everybody's World," 
pp. 244-246. 

Opportunity for American Leadership 

The year and a half spent in revolutionary Russia had shown how 
great is the responsibility, how wonderful the opportunity of America 
for leadership among men the world over who love and strive for in- 
tellectual and political freedom. Among the peasants and soldiers at 
the front, America had seemed to stand for a wonderful land where 
freedom was a fact, and all things were arranged as in some fairy land 
of legend. The small dealers, railroad workers and clerks who ma to * up 
what we should call the middle class were always ready to talk for 
hours about democratic America. The Bolsheviki themselves looked 
upon America as less to be feared than other nations, as a country 
where at least an experiment in freedom had been tried and from which 
sympathy for their own great experiment could be expected. But it 
was particularly among the Intelligentzia — always excepting the ex- 
treme monarchists — that America was looked to for example and guid- 
ance. The men from whose ranks I had become convinced must come 
the future leadership of Russia looked across the Atlantic for help. 
But they did not look blindly. The failures of America and her short- 
comings were perhaps clearer to them than a patriotic American might 
wish. Whether or not America should retain the moral leadership 
which Russia seemed to be offering her freely and hopefully depended 
on two things, first, that she should continue to stand for the things 
which make for freedom, justice and social progress within her own 
borders; and second, that she should be willing to take her place in the 
family of nations as a responsible and active champion of honesty and 
fair dealing among all the people of the world. As I lived among the 
educated people of Russia and saw their looks turned toward my coun- 
try, now in hope, now in the bitterness of disappointment, it seemed 
incredible that America should turn aside from the leadership that it 
lay in her choice to take or leave. An America resisting all social 
change, satisfied with her progress thus far and willing to stand still, 
taking the best thought of two centuries ago as the ideal to follow 
blindly in the new age, an America turning away from all risk and 
responsibility connected with world affairs — such an America could do 



i 3 4 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

much to dash the hopes and break the spirit of men whose hearts were 
set upon the creation of a free Russia. — William Adams Brown, Jr., 
"The Groping Giant : Revolutionary Russia as Seen by an American 
Democrat," pp. 197-198. 

Diplomacy Should Be Responsive to Public Opinion 

It was the war spirit of the world and not the viciousness or the 
blindness of the Allies which dictated . . . the policy of the Allies in 
Russia. That policy was the real tragedy of the war. 

In that policy for better or for worse, the plain people of America 
have borne little part. . . . 

Ours has been the sin of omission and the deadlier sin of ignorance. 
If open diplomacy is to mean anything ... it means that diplomacy 
should ... be responsive to public opinion. If it means anything, it 
means that public opinion should be aroused as well as informed. It 
must mean this, community by community, if it is to mean anything in 
the nation as a whole. The very people who shoulder the load of civic 
upbuilding in our American cities are the people who must take the 
wider neighborhood of the world to heart. They must put into it all 
some of the vision and social values that go into their domestic reforms, 
so that foreign policy shall hinge not alone on the bonds of France or 
the oil fields of Baku, but on the education, the health, the good-will of 
every people with whom we must keep house in this disordered world. 
They must put into it some of the flint and steel of our militant civic 
and political reforms, for forces of another order are abroad. They 
must have a hand in the policy-making toward Russia. . . . They must 
make up their minds on the issues that enter into that policy. . . . They 
can not leave these to the fragmentary League of Nations, to Allied 
premiers or even to high-minded administrations at Washington ; they 
must take their stand and make it known. — William Allen White, Survey, 
June 5, 1920, p. 346. 

The Basis for Considering Trade Relations 

The Government of the United States views with deep sympathy and 
grave concern the plight of the people of Russia and desires to aid by 
every appropriate means in promoting proper opportunities through 
which commerce can be established upon a sound basis. It is manifest 
to this Government that in existing circumstances there is no assurance 
for the development of trade, as the supplies which Russia might now 
be able to obtain would be wholly inadequate to meet her needs, and no 
lasting good can result so long as the present causes of progressive im- 
poverishment continue to operate. It is only in the productivity of Rus- 
sia that there is any hope for the Russian people, and it is idle to expect 
resumption of trade until the economic bases of production are securely 



AMERICA AND RUSSIA 135 

established. Production is conditioned upon the safety of life, the 
recognition by firm guarantees of private property, the sanctity of 
contract and the rights of free labor. 

If fundamental changes are contemplated, involving due regard for 
the protection of persons and property and the establishment of con- 
ditions essential to the maintenance of commerce, this Government will 
be glad to have convincing evidence of the consummation of such 
changes, and until this evidence is supplied this Government is unable 
to perceive that there is any proper basis for considering trade relations. 
— Statement of Secretary of State Hughes, declaring the Administra- 
tion's rejection of the Soviet trade proposals, Washington, March 
25, 1921. 

A Modern Civilization Near Final Collapse 

Russia, which was a modern civilization of the Western type, least 
disciplined and most ramshackle of all the Great Powers, is now a 
modern civilization in extremis. The direct cause of its downfall has 
been modern war leading to physical exhaustion. Only through that 
could the Bolsheviki have secured power. Nothing like this Russian 
downfall has ever happened before. If it goes on for a year or so more 
the process of collapse will be complete. Nothing will be left of Russia 
but a country of peasants ; the towns will be practically deserted and in 
ruins, the railways will be rusting in disuse. With the railways will go 
the last vestiges of any general government. The peasants are abso- 
lutely illiterate and collectively stupid, capable of resisting interference 
but incapable of comprehensive foresight and organization. They will 
become a sort of human swamp in a state of division, petty civil war, 
and political squalor, with a famine whenever the harvests are bad; and 
they will be breeding epidemics for the rest of Europe. They will lapse 
towards Asia. 

The collapse of the civilized system in Russia into peasant barbar- 
ism means that Europe will be cut off for many years from all the 
mineral wealth of Russia, and from any supply of raw products from 
this area, from its corn, flax, and the like. It is an open question whether 
the Western Powers can get along without these supplies. Their cessa- 
tion certainly means a general impoverishment of Western Europe. 

The only possible Government that can stave off such a final collapse 
of Russia now is the present Bolshevik Government, if it can be assisted 
by America and the Western Powers. There is now no alternative to 
that Government possible. There are of course a multitude of antagonists 
— adventurers and the like — ready, with European assistance, to attempt 
the overthrow of that Bolshevik Government, but there are no signs of 
any common purpose and moral unity capable of replacing it. And more- 
over there is no time now for another revolution in Russia. A year 
more of civil war will make the final sinking of Russia out of civilization 



136 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

inevitable. We have to make what we can, therefore, of the Bolshevik 
Government, whether we like it or not. 

Any country or group of countries with adequate industrial re- 
sources which goes into Bolshevik Russia with recognition and help 
will necessarily become the supporter, the right hand, and the con- 
sultant of the Bolshevik Government. It will react upon that Govern- 
ment and be reacted upon. It will probably become more collectivist in 
its methods, and, on the other hand, the rigors oi extreme Communism 
in Russia will probably be greatly tempered through its influence. 

The only Power capable of playing this role of eleventh-hour helper 
to Russia single-handed is the United States of America. Other Towers 
than the United States will, in the present phase oi world-exhaustion, 
need to combine before they can be of any effective use to Russia. 
Rig business is by no means antipathetic to Communism. The larger big 
business grows the more it approximates to Collectivism. It is the upper 
road of the few instead of the lower road of the masses to Collectivism. 

The only alternative to such a helpful intervention in Bolshevik 
Russia is, I firmly believe, the final collapse of all that remains of 
modern civilization throughout what was formerly the Russian Empire. 
It is highly improbable that the collapse will be limited to its boundaries. 
Both eastward and westward other great regions may. one after an- 
other, tumble into the big hole in civilization thus created. Possibly all 
modern civilization may tumble in. — II. G. Wells, "Russia in the 
Shadows." pp. 171 -170. 



CHAPTER XI 

MUST AMERICA HELP TO CLEAN UP EUROPE 
AND EUROPE'S DEPENDENCIES? 

I. The Situation Facing America 

i. What epidemics and other types of health menace have come 
to America from other areas of the world? Just how serious 
have these epidemics been ? 

2. What are the major epidemic diseases, and where are they 
now prevalent ? To what extent are they a menace to America ? 

3. What progress has been made towards the understanding of 
these great diseases? What progress has been made towards 
their localization or elimination? 

4. What seem to be the chief agencies and the speed rate in the 
spread of epidemics? What bearing does migratory labor have 
on international health? 

5. America faces questions like these : 

a. How can America protect herself against plague conditions ? 
Is quarantine adequate or must we help to fight them at 
their sources? Can great epidemics of disease be confined 
and isolated ? 

b. What obligation, if any, has America on humanitarian 
grounds, to help relieve plague and disease conditions in 
other parts of the world? 

Which phase of the question, that of self-interest or of altru- 
ism, seems to you to be of more importance? Why? 

II. Some Essential Considerations to an Intelligent Discussion 

of These Questions 

A. America's Danger from European Epidemics. 

1. What conditions with respect to disease have been developed 
in Europe by the backwash of the great war? 

2. What areas and kinds of disease infection in Europe are to 
be feared today by America? 

3. What particularly has been the situation in Russia, Poland, 
and Austria with respect to typhus and cholera? 

137 



138 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

4. How much danger is there that these disease and plague areas 
in Europe will be sources of contagion for America? 

B. European Colonies as Sources of Contagion. 

1. What is the situation as to plague and disease conditions in 
Europe's colonies and dependencies? 

2. What is the bearing of unsanitary conditions upon the con- 
tinuance of these conditions? 

3. In what measure does the physical health of the world de- 
pend upon sanitary and healthful conditions in colonial, pro- 
tectorate, and mandatory areas? How far are unsanitary and 
disease conditions in these areas a menace to the rest of the 
world? How far do they challenge our compassion and self- 
denying service on the basis of human suffering and need? 

4. In what measure do the cost of tropical products, and the 
achievement of great engineering enterprises which open up 
the tropics to world commerce, turn upon sanitary achievement 
in tropical areas? 

5. In what ways has the introduction of colonial administration 
and foreign trade tended to solve the problem of health and 
sanitation? In what ways has it increased the difficulties? 

6. Can the races of the tropics be depended upon to maintain 
necessary sanitary regulations or should these regulations be 
guaranteed by the races of the temperate zone with or without 
the consent of the tropical groups? What bearing does this 
have upon the problem of the self-government and the self- 
determination of peoples? 

7. Exactly in what ways is America interested in the adequate 
sanitary control of tropical colonies by the European nations 
to which these colonies belong? How can we best safeguard 
these interests? 

C. The Possibility of Stamping Out Plagues at Their 

Sources. 

1. Where and when may a disease be said to be endemic? When 
may a disease be called pandemic ? 

2. Just what bearing does the educational uplift of the backward 
peoples have on the problem of improving sanitation in the 
areas they occupy? 

3. If you were a medical missionary, summoned by multitudes 
needing physical help and healing, would you feel your major 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 139 

task would be to heal the sick or to teach sanitation and health 
promotion ? Why ? 

4. Do you regard medical missionary work as pure benevolence, 
or as fully justified, in the long run, as an expression of en- 
lightened self-interest on the part of so-called Christian na- 
tions? Why? In this connection, would you take the same at- 
titude towards educational missions? Why? Why not? 

III. Conclusion 

1. In the light of these facts concerning disease, what answer 
would you give to the two questions raised at the outset of the 
chapter? 

a. How can America protect herself against these plague 
conditions ? Is quarantine adequate or must we help to fight 
them at their sources? Can great epidemics of disease be 
confined and isolated? 

b. What obligation, if any, has America on humanitarian 
grounds, to help relieve plague and diseased conditions in 
other parts of the world? 

2. How can America most economically and effectively protect 
herself against plagues originating elsewhere? 

a. By quarantine at our borders, or by aiding in the elimina- 
tion of diseases where they are endemic? 

b. By general educational processes, or by specific medical 
research and sanitary measures? 

c. By private benevolence or by government action? 

IV. Practical Steps to Be Taken 

1. What have been the lessons from the notable contributions 
to international health which have already been made by the 
United States, such as our achievements in dealing with yellow 
fever and malaria in Panama, and with leprosy in Hawaii and 
the Philippines? 

How were these achievements brought about? 

2. What is the League of Nations doing to fight disease? 

3. What seem to be the relative effectiveness of the three great 
methods of fighting epidemic diseases : sanitation, quarantine, 
attacking foci of the disease? 

4. How much of the load of world sanitation would you expect 
to be carried by Europe under post-war conditions as you know 
them? 



140 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

5. In what measure do you feel the load should be carried by 
America? Can we afford to sanitate the earth, or any con- 
siderable part of it outside our own borders? 

6. In what measure is international cooperation through some 
such channel as the Red Cross Association a necessity if world 
results in fighting disease are to be achieved? 

7. In what measure would you like to see medical missions re- 
cruited and aided? Why? Would you like to see our best 
doctors go to the neediest areas of the earth or stay in Amer- 
ica ? Why ? 

V. Possibility of Success 

1. Which great evil do you feel humanity is most eager to 
destroy — war or disease? Which do you most fear as an 
enemy to future progress and happiness on earth? 

2. How much hope does the progress already made give of final 
success with regard to each ? 

3. Do you feel that particular diseases may sometime become 
extinct on the earth? Why do you hold to this opinion, and 
how is the result to be brought about ? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

Where Dangers Threaten 

World Prevalence of Various Diseases 

Prevalence of cholera, typhus fever, and yellow fever was reported 
for the period ended June 30, 1920, in areas in which these diseases have 
been recognized as endemic. Some unusual outbreaks were noted. 
Plague made its appearance in Mexico at Tampico and Vera Cruz. 
Occurrence of cholera was reported on a vessel from Shanghai, August 
7, 1919. Plague was reported on five vessels from July to December, 
1919, and on two vessels in the months of February and March, 1920. . . . 

The information contained in the Public Health Reports is based 
merely on reports received from medical officers of the Public Health 
Service and American consuls. The statements of disease prevalence 
are of value as indicating areas of prevalence and the unusual occur- 
rence of outbreaks rather than as supplying accurate data of the extent 
of the prevalence. 

Cholera. Countries in which cholera was reported present: 
Europe — Greece, Poland, Russia, and Turkey. Asia — Ceylon. China, 
Chosen (Korea), India, Indo-China, Japan, Java, Mesopotamia, Siam, 
Straits Settlements, Sumatra, the Philippine Islands, and Asiatic Turkey. 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 141 

Plague. Countries in which plague was reported present: Europe 
— France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey. Asia — 
Ceylon, China, India, Indo-China, Java, Mesopotamia, Siam, Straits 
Settlements, Syria. Africa — Algeria, British East Africa, Egypt, Sene- 
gal, Union of South Africa. South America — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, 
Ecuador, Peru. Mexico — Tampico, Vera Cruz. Insular — Azores, 
Hawaii. 

Typhus Fever. Countries in which typhus fever was reported 
present: Europe — Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, Danzig, 
Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, 
Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey. Asia — 
China, Chosen (Korea), Japan, India, Mesopotamia, Siberia, Syria. 
Africa — Algeria, Egypt, Tunis. South America — Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, 
Colombia, Paraguay, Peru. Mexico — Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Mexico 
City, Saltillo, San Luis Potosi. North America — Canada. 

Yellow Fever. Countries in which yellow fever was reported pres- 
ent: Central America — Canal Zone, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, 
Salvador. Mexico — Campeche, Merida, Vera Cruz. South America — 
Brazil, Peru. — "Annual Report of the Surgeon General of the Public 
Health Service of the United States for the fiscal year 1920," pp. 221-230. 

The Menace of Typhus 

The facts [as to the growing menace of typhus in Poland and east- 
ern Europe] may be briefly stated. They have been obtained from the 
leading public health authorities in Europe and America, especially 
convened to consider the purpose; from the Office international 
d'hygiene publique ; from a special Commission of the League of Red 
Cross Societies; from the Medical Commissioner of the League of 
Nations . . . ; and from other sources. All these witnesses draw the 
same picture ; all draw it in the darkest colors. 

In Russia the disease seems to be epidemic. . . . Scarcely a town 
or village has escaped; and . . . half the doctors engaged in fighting 
the disease have died. . . . 

From this vast center of infection the disease is carried westward 
by an increasing stream of immigrants. Prisoners returning to their 
homes, refugees flying for safety, crowd the railways. Two millions of 
these unfortunate persons have passed the Polish Disinfection Stations 
since the Armistice, and doubtless many more have entered Poland 
without being subject to medical examination. They are pouring into 
a country in parts already overcrowded, where every circumstance — 
material and moral — combines to favor the spread of infection. . . . 

On what ground, it may be asked, should all the world be called on 
to alleviate a misfortune which, however great, is nevertheless confined 
to Eastern Europe? The answer is threefold. 

In the first place, all the world has, directly or indirectly, some in- 



142 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

terest — often a very great interest — in restoring the war-worn and 
plague-stricken areas of Poland and Galicia to a normal condition of 
well-being. It is safe to say that this object can never be accomplished 
while the population is under the menace of this terrible disease. 

In the second place, if the plague be allowed to spread unchecked 
from Russia into Poland, it will assuredly spread from Poland to her 
western and southern neighbors. In Central Europe every circumstance 
— moral and material — favors the disease. A population weakened by 
war and famine is living in conditions which, even were it vigorous 
and well-fed, would make resistance to infection difficult or impossible. 
As infection spreads it becomes harder to deal with, and no European 
country, not perhaps even an island like Great Britain, can count itself 
wholly safe if Poland be allowed to succumb. 

In the third place, there is the claim of humanity. Poland has not 
brought this misfortune on herself; she is the victim of circumstances 
for which she is not responsible. She has done, as our authorities in- 
form us, all within her power to help herself. In helping herself she 
has greatly helped others; and she deserves not merely their sympathy, 
but their aid. 

It should, moreover, be noted that the evil wrought by typhus can- 
not be measured merely by statistics of mortality. The disease is one 
which attacks with peculiar severity men in the prime of life. It is thus 
the breadwinner of the family who is stricken down by death or long- 
drawn illness, and whole families become a charge on the community 
through the misfortune of a single member. Even those nations, 
therefore, who suppose themselves to have no direct interest in the 
prosperity of Poland and to be in no measurable danger from the spread 
of the epidemic, may yet, on reflection, feel moved to lighten the load 
of undeserved misfortune which presses so heavily on those unhappy 
regions. — Letter from the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, O.M., M.P., making 
a further appeal from the Council of the League of Nations to the Mem- 
bers of the League. League of Nations Official Journal, September, 
1920, pp. 366-368. 

America Cannot Claim Isolation from Disease 

Disease knows no frontiers. The political divisions which man has 
created are non-existent in its forward march. It sweeps on, regardless 
of the conventional ports of entry and of man-made regulations. Trains 
in their transcontinental journeys, ships in their voyages about the Seven 
Seas, even the atmosphere itself in its restless currents, serve as the 
medium of travel by which the scourge of one section may reach the 
health of another. 

Disease and sickness are world-wide. Both their cause and their 
remedy are the same in one place as in another. The lessons learned 
in the tragedy, say, of Poland, may well be the salvation of the United 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 143 

States. The gains of science in its ceaseless struggle amidst the ravages 
of a disease must be instantly reported to sections still only threatened. 
What above all is needed is a means first to universalize new methods 
of prevention and cure the moment they become discovered, and second 
to assure the cooperation of all states in a concerted attack upon an 
incipient plague. 

America can not claim isolation from this world problem. To . . . 
quote Mr. Davison, "America is just as unsafe as Europe from typhus 
and the white plague now spreading over the world with lightning 
rapidity." Every ship that comes to our shores, every immigrant that 
enters our portals, every home-coming American traveler indeed, may 
bring the dread disease. We have only one method of insurance, namely, 
to cooperate with other nations in stamping disease out at its starting 
point and in spreading knowledge of disease prevention and insulation. 

It is not enough that each nation of itself have good health laws 
and protev-.ive machinery. All its good efforts may easily be vitiated by 
the carelessness of another state in allowing a plague to generate which 
may sweep over half the world before it is beaten down. The danger 
of contagion can of course be reduced, but it can never be avoided. The 
great scourges which have in the past ravaged the world have done so 
because they suddenly became too powerful for local authorities to 
handle and set out for wider fields of conquest. — Arthur Sweetser, 
"The League of Nations at Work," pp. 164-166. 

Health Maintenance as a World Problem 

Fighting Diseases at Their Sources 

Accurate observers noted long ago that influenza in its epidemic 
form did not constitute an exception to the common rule governing 
epidemic diseases, but was obviously associated with persons and their 
migrations. . . . 

In Eastern Russia and Turkestan, influenza spreads with the pace 
of a caravan, in Europe and America with the speed of an express 
train, and in the world at large with the rapidity of an ocean liner; 
and if one project forward the outcome of the means of inter-com- 
munication of the near future, we may predict that the next pandemic, 
should one arise, will extend with the swiftness of the airship. More- 
over, not only is the rate of spread determined by the nature of the 
transportation facilities of the region or the area, but towns and villages, 
mainland and island, are invaded early or late or preserved entirely 
from attack according as they lie within or without the avenues of 
approach or are protected by inaccessibility, as in instances of remote 
mountain settlements and of islands distant from the ocean lanes or 
frozen in during winter periods. . . . 

Epidemic diseases in the commonly accepted sense have fixed 



i n ami RICA'S S i \m>. IN EUR( >PE 

locttiona the so-called endemic homes oi the diseases. En those homes 
they survive without usually attracting special attention often over long 
periods oi time Bui from time to tune, and Eoi reasons no1 entirely 
clear, these dormant Eoci ol th<' epidemics take an unwonted activity, 
the evidence ol which Is the more frequent appearance of cases ol 
the partlculai disease among the native population, and sooner or latei 
.in extension ol the disease beyond Its endemic confines, rims there are 
excellent reasons fot believing that an endemic focus oi poliomyelitis 
[Infantile paralysis] has been established in novthwestern Europe from 
which the recent epidemit waves have emanated. 

Similarly, there are excellent reasons for regarding the endemic 
home ol Influenza to be eastern Europe, and in particulai the border 
region between Russia and rurkestan. Many recorded epidemics have 
been shown more 01 less clearly to emanate from that area, while the 
epidemics oi recent history have been traced there with i high degree 
oi conclusiveness Prom this eastern home, on intervals usually of two 
oi three decades, a migrating epidemii influenza begins, moving east 
ward and westward, with the greatei velocity in the latter direction, 

Now since the combating oi these two epidemic diseases, when 
Hi' \ became widely and severely pandemic, is attended with such ven 
great difficulty and is oi such dubious success, and this notwithstanding 
the prodigious public health contests which are waged against them, 

il WOUld seem as il an elloit ol central lathei llian pel iphei al eon 

trol might i>e worth discussion According to this proposal, an effort al 
control amounting even to eventual eradication oi the diseases in the 
regions ol i tu'ii endemic survival would be undertaken, an effort, indeed, 
not occasional and intensively spasmodic, as during the pandemic ex 
curslons, but continuous ovet relatively lone, periods, in the hope thai the 
teed beds, as it were, oi the diseases might be destroyed. 

rii.it such an effort at the eradication oi s serious epidemic disease 
may t" - carried through successfully, the experience with yellow fevei 
evidentlj proves tn attacking that disease, the combat was not put on 
until its epidemii spread had begun and mini new territory such as New 
Orleans, Jacksonville ami Memphis, had been invaded; but the attack 

was made on its .omees al Havana. Panama aiul now Guayaquil, to 
which endeinu points the extension into new and nenlial tetiitorv had 

been t i seed 

i a^ not disregard the essential fact, in bringing tins suggestion 
forward, that the control at its sources oi yellov* fevei is quite another 
and probably fai slmplei problem than the control in their endemic foci 
oi poliomyelitis and influenza it is, perhaps. iuuuvessar\, to go t.u into 
the reasons whj the lattei would doubtless prove to be far more dim" 
'nit oi accomplishment than has been the former. I am not now en 

gaged in piesenting a plan ol operation 01 proposing that the attempt 

ai eradication he made immediately Oui knowledge oi all the facts 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 145 

. . . may still be too imperfect for immediately effective action. But the 
very magnitude of the problem of these otherwise uncontrollable epi- 
demic diseases invites to an imaginative outlook which, while perhaps 
non-realizable today, may not, in view of the rapidly advancing knowledge 
of the infectious diseases, be hopelessly out of reach tomorrow. 

Nor am I insensible to the labor and cost in money and talent 
which the setting out of such an ambitious enterprise would entail. 
But here, at least, is a world problem of such proportions and nature as 
to invite the participation of all the scientifically advanced countries 
in a common effort to suppress one of the most menacing enemies of 
civilized man and of human progress. 

In proposing to strive for the high achievement, not merely of 
parrying the blows struck by destructive epidemics, but of rendering 
them impotent to strike in the future, we may pause for a moment to 
reflect on the different ways in which peoples react to great calamities, 
such as those brought by war and by disease. As the results of a great 
and devastating war, revolutions in governments supposed the most stable 
may occur; no such result follows on still more devastating epidemics. 
The recent epidemic of influenza claimed, possibly, more victims than 
did the great war, and the losses to the world in emotion spent, treasure 
consumed, and progress impeded are incalculable ; yet, through a for- 
tuitous circumstance of psychology, from the one calamity the world 
emerged chastened, perhaps even bettered, while from the other, because 
of a depth of ignorance amounting often even to fatalism, mankind may 
largely miss the deep meaning of the lesson. — Simon Flexner, M.D., 
Journal of the American Medical Association, September 27, 1919, 
PP- 950-952. 

Cleaning Up the Tropics 

Europe in the throes of post-bellum chaos, as evidenced by revo- 
lutions, political intrigues, piracies, strikes, foul murders, religious tur- 
moil, promoted by so-called lovers and agents of freedom, has but little 
time for literary or scientific work, be it medical or other. Hunger 
reigns and all else is forgotten in the scramble for food. For five years 
the study of everything of the nature of science has been devoted to 
producing engines of destruction and to practicing the art of medicine 
in alleviating the human ailments caused by them. 

The science of medicine as regards research and the advance of 
sanitation has had to be dropped, for the laboratories have been emptied 
of their workers, and investigations set aside for the art of war. Nor 
is there likely to be, nor can there be, a speedy recovery from this 
calamity to scientific advancement. In few countries is the machinery 
available whereby regeneration can be for the moment accomplished. . . 

In Britain and in the United States of America has it been alone 
possible to carry on even a semblance of investigation and tropical 



146 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

work, apart from observations in the field; and now that the great fight 
is finished both countries are setting earnestly to work in the sphere of 
tropical medicine to "make good." 

The subject chiefly to the fore is the application of knowledge, 
accumulated during the past twenty years, to the eradication of disease 
in tropical lands. The pursuit of the subject has assumed an economic 
interest far beyond anything heretofore in existence. Labor in tropical 
countries has recently assumed a new aspect. The coolie is of more 
value today than even five years ago. His wages have had to be in- 
creased in some cases to double and treble the pre-war scale. Foods and 
fibre of all kinds coming from warm climates are produced at enhanced 
price and therefore cost the consumer more. Uncontrolled disease due 
to deficient hygienic and sanitary measures will foster still higher 
wages. For the labor market of the world is not inexhaustible, as at one 
time it was thought to be. Disease lessens the labor available ; it cur- 
tails the individual power of production, thereby requiring an extra 
number of laborers to reach the desired end in a given time, involving a 
greater, perhaps a ruinous, expense in the accomplishment. 

The French found labor the crucial point in their attempt to finish 
the Panama Canal. Disease was so rife in the sphere of the canal that 
it exhausted the available labor supply of the world so that the work 
could not be finished. For the same reason in every military or ex- 
ploratory mission in a tropical country that has been undertaken, the 
excess of laborers required, owing to the ravage of disease, has from time 
immemorial required a retinue of "camp followers" largely outnumbering 
the active elements of the force. As an example, it is well known that 
on the West African coast military expeditional forces have always to 
engage three times the number of non-combatants actually required for 
work and baggage carrying, owing to the incapacity arising from infec- 
tion by guinea-worm alone. And, as in military, so in economic work 
the number of laborers that have to be employed owing to disease is at 
a far higher level than would otherwise be required were preventable 
ailments eliminated from, or even lessened amongst, the workmen's 
ranks. . . . 

Granted therefore that the question is focused to the problem of 
the prevention of disease in tropical lands, how and by whom is that 
to be accomplished? As suggested above, Europe, indeed the world, is 
in a state of mental chaos and economic turmoil. Few countries have 
the machinery, the men, or the money to tackle the all-important prob- 
lem at present. The United States of America and Britain are the 
only two available countries and both are ready and willing to take up 
the white man's burden. During the war, even, scientific missions have 
been sent out from both countries to investigate, to report, and to deal 
scientifically with various questions of epidemiology, but only to a 
limited degree owing to the circumstances of war. Both are, however, 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 147 

now contemplating extended efforts in the prevention of disease. — 
Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, January 15, 1920, pp. 23, 24. 

The Great Reservoirs of Epidemic Disease 

The countries we usually speak of as non-Christian are the coun- 
tries which form the great reservoirs of epidemic disease — as in plague, 
cholera, yellow fever, malaria, typhus fever, small-pox and the para- 
sitic intestinal diseases. So our efforts toward control of these diseases 
are not limited in their benefits to the countries where the efforts are 
put forth, but all the world is directly benefited by the elimination of 
chances of infection in each of these diseases. 

Take for instance the plague. There have been for ages four cen- 
ters where the fire of plague has smouldered, occasionally breaking forth 
in great conflagrations. One center is on the eastern slope of the 
Himalayas from which the great Hongkong epidemic in 1894 came. 
The western slope of these same mountains has another center, probably 
connected with the first. This was the source of the Bombay epidemic 
in 1896 and the disease is still left in Bombay. The third source of 
plague exists from about the center of Arabia to Mesopotamia. From 
this area the Black Sea and Persia were infected. The fourth great 
endemic area is in the interior of Africa, near the source of the White 
Nile in Uganda. Each center is the very heart of a non-Christian 
country. The havoc wrought by plague is hardly to be comprehended 
in complacent America. Its inroads in India alone since 1892 have 
been terrible. In 1907 over one million persons died of plague in that 
country. In the winter of 1910-1911 one of the most virulent epidemics 
of modern times occurred in Manchuria, the mortality being over 90 
per cent of those sick with the disease. 

Carefully planned preventive measures organized and backed ade- 
quately have demonstrated the possibility of exterminating plague in 
these very countries where it is most common. The efforts of the 
United States against plague in Manila have been so successful that 
plague has disappeared in that city. There is no good reason why we 
might not apply similar methods of proved success in these smouldering 
centers and save untold and uncounted deaths in the future from a 
preventable disease. — Reginald M. Atwater, M.D., Missionary Review 
of the World, October, 1919, pp. 751-752. 

World Sanitation, a Twentieth Century Possibility 

World-wide sanitation ! The phrase sounds visionary, fatuous, 
unreal. A few years ago one would have regarded it as impossible of 
attainment. But great things have happened in the last five years and 
they are to lead to even still greater. Scientists already can see that 
world sanitation is not an impossibility. Statesmen and men of business 



148 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

are going to regard it as a necessity. In spite of wars, in spite of com- 
mercial struggles, in spite of political boundaries, in spite of differences 
in races and language, religion and social customs, there is one thing 
which is bound to draw the human race together — the desire to conquer 
disease. The basis of our present hopeful view of world-wide sanitation 
is that the human race is learning that communicable diseases can be 
largely eradicated by cooperation, by helping one another. This is true 
both nationally and individually. . . . 

Improved means of communication brought cities and nations closer 
together and in so doing they have speeded up the transmission of 
disease from one part of the world to another. In early days diseases 
traveled by caravan ; now they travel by steamship, by railroad, by train, 
and by automobile. Studies of epidemics in past and present times give 
effective confirmation of this accelerated spread of disease. The great 
influenza pandemic of 1918 was perhaps the greatest example of all time 
that the world is bound in bacterial bonds. . . . 

War, famine, and pestilence have been the world's great scourges. 
War has not been prevented, thus far, and whether it can ever be pre- 
vented remains to be seen. World-wide transportation is gradually 
preventing famine, by equalizing food distribution. Sanitation can 
largely do away with the "pestilences that walk in darkness" — for where 
there was darkness there is now light. The successful fight of the 
western world against such diseases as small-pox, diphtheria, typhoid 
fever, and yellow fever shows what can be done in the eastern world 
against cholera, typhus fever, and plague. Even malaria, which circles 
the tropics, can be conquered in time, and tuberculosis, the chief cause 
of death in so many countries, is already gradually declining. The 
situation is full of hope. . . . 

It has been recognized for a very long time that certain diseases 
follow the routes of commerce and travel. The "cholera routes" from 
Asia to Europe have become famous in sanitary literature. Some dis- 
eases, like typhus fever, travel over land; others, like plague, travel 
by water, infected rats spreading the disease from country to country 
through shipping. Diseases travel as the people travel. This leads to 
a second opportunity of control, protection of routes of trade, an oppor- 
tunity already recognized by the nations of the world and crystallized 
in the quarantine regulations of many countries. An International 
Sanitary Convention relating to quarantine matters was adopted by the 
nations of the world in 1903 and has since been revised. It has done 
much to prevent the conveyance of disease from one country to an- 
other. 

A map of the world showing the railroads and steamship lines will 
illustrate how closely the world is bound together by the ties of com- 
merce. A hundred years ago almost none of these rapid transportation 
lines existed. What will transportation be one hundred years hence and 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 149 

what, then, will be the health conditions of the world, unless universal 
sanitation comes to the rescue? 

A third principle is that of attacking the foci of disease. We have 
seen this method illustrated by the attacks against yellow fever in 
Panama and in certain countries of Central America and South America. 
One by one strongholds of the yellow fever mosquito have surrendered 
until scarcely one is left. Yellow fever has been almost obliterated from 
the western continent. In the same way, by the introduction of water- 
purification plants in large cities which are centers of travel, typhoid 
fever in the western world has decreased not only in those cities but in 
many other places. At present cholera is firmly established at a number 
of particular spots, notably in India. These hotbeds of cholera should 
be attacked with vigor. Fortunately we have a new, effective and cheap 
weapon with which to attack cholera — the chlorination of water. Many 
eastern world supplies are also potent agencies for the spread of typhoid 
fever and dysentery. 

Some diseases amenable to sanitation are so widespread that the 
problem seems almost hopeless. For centuries malaria has held the 
Mediterranean lands in its thrall. The Anopheles mosquito has modi- 
fied the course of civilization. Science knows that malaria can be con- 
quered. The nations bordering the Mediterranean may once more come to 
the forefront by controlling the mosquito. The extermination of malaria 
must of necessity be slow, but it can be done in a century, and a century 
is not long in the life of the world. Malaria must be attacked at many 
points, wherever opportunity offers. 

While the League [of Nations] should endeavor to stimulate pro- 
grammes of attacks on disease by the strategy suggested, it should, of 
course, be ready to respond to outbreaks of disease in various parts of 
the world as revealed by the intelligence service, and this will often 
involve problems of sanitation. Every such outbreak should be utilized, 
as far as possible, to secure some permanent sanitary movement. . . . 

World-wide sanitation is possible, but it will not come until there 
are sanitarians in every land and climate. The work must be started by 
men already skilled in sanitation who, in the spirit of the Red Cross, are 
willing to go from place to place, studying conditions, teaching public 
health, and inciting communities to utilize the principles of modern 
science. But each country and each nationality must have its own 
sanitary engineers just as it must have its own physicians, men who 
speak the language of the place, who know its people and their habits, 
its climate and the thousand and one details which comprise what we 
call "local conditions." Some countries have many competent men ; some 
countries have so few that they can be counted on the fingers ; some 
countries have none. Who is to supply this great need for men? The 
answer is the great universities and technical institutes of the world, 
with their medical and engineering schools and schools of hygiene and 



150 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

public health. In these schools men must be taught the broad principles 
of public health science, and must be trained in the detailed subjects 
necessary to make them competent to practice as sanitary engineers, 
laboratory workers, health executives and the like. — George C. Whipple, 
Chief, Department of Sanitation, General Medical Department, League 
of Red Cross Societies, International Journal of Public Health, July, 
1920, pp. 38, 39, 45. 53-55- 

Essential Conditions of Progress 

It is often said that if all available knowledge about the causes of 
disease were actually applied the world over, millions of lives could be 
saved every year. This statement is true, but it may easily mislead. 
One is likely to infer that enough public health officers and sanitary 
engineers could usher in a hygienic millennium. But the thing is by no 
means so simple. The public authorities at best can control wholly or 
in part only about 20 per cent of the diseases by which people are 
crippled or killed. Typhoid, scarlet fever, small-pox, and malaria can 
be either entirely prevented or kept from spreading; but tuberculosis, 
measles, diphtheria, pneumonia, influenza, and many other maladies are 
either less perfectly understood or do not respond so readily to control 
efforts. 

Valuable as this community protection against contagious diseases 
is, it must be remembered that about 80 per cent of the menace to life 
is not dealt with, at any rate directly, by public authorities. The idea of 
prevention, then, will have limited influence until it is accepted not 
merely as a government policy but as a guiding principle in individual 
lives. Education of whole communities and nations, changes in habits 
of thought, a new attitude toward disease and toward medical service, 
are essential conditions of progress. — George E. Vincent, Ph.D., LL.D., 
"The Rockefeller Foundation: A Review for 1920; The Program for 
1921," pp. 4, 5- 

The Spread of Knowledge and Education 

The experience of man's conflict with disease on a world scale, 
and over centuries of time, has taught him that there is a general 
method, and there is a particular method of prevention. The general 
method includes attention to the universal needs of a healthy life for 
all men — food, clothing, water-supply, cleanliness, housing, land drain- 
age, sanitation and public education in hygiene, each in its broadest mean- 
ing. The particular method is concerned with the application of the 
specific or technical means necessary to tally with the particular channel 
of circumstances which conveys the infection — food, water, "carrier" 
and "contact" in cholera (rats in plague, mosquitoes in malaria and yel- 
low fever) — or with that which counteracts the virus by inoculation, 



CLEANING UP EUROPE 151 

by vaccine, by anti-toxin or by disinfectant. He only is the wise physi- 
cian who uses both — first the former method, then the latter. The pre- 
ventor of famine, the bestower of cheap bread, the irrigator, the land 
drainer, the true social reformer, the educator — these are the pioneers 
who, by making the ordinary and daily life of man a better and more 
wholesome thing, lay the foundations upon which the sanitarian and 
physician can build. ... Of all means of prevention the spread of 
knowledge and education is the supreme. There must be continuous 
and more applied research into the conditions which favor the origins 
and incidence of all tropical diseases, for their prevalence is a matter 
of the gravest concern. — Sir George Newman, K.C.B., Chief Medical 
Officer, Ministry of Health for Great Britain, in Introduction of the 
"Reports on Public Health and Medical Subjects," No. 3, Plague, 
Cholera, and Yellow Fever, 1914-1917, p. xv. 

In the past, medical missionaries have of necessity concerned 
themselves so largely with the alleviation and cure of disease that time, 
money and effort have not been available for a large scale prevention of 
disease. In the past the missionaries who have contributed so much 
and so untiringly to the betterment of the bodies of men as well as to 
the redemption of their souls would have been unfaithful to their respon- 
sibility had they not given all they had to relieve the appalling need about 
them. In these days of applied statesmanship in the missionary enter- 
prise it is quite natural that we should begin plans for a comprehensive 
campaign of prevention of the disease we have labored so long to arrest 
and cure. The time has come when missionary equipment justifies this 
new emphasis. Will not the net result of our ministry of healing be 
greater and more satisfactory if we spend more effort in the anticipation 
and prevention of disease? 

Medical missionary effort in the past has contributed much of great 
value to the present situation. Had it not been for that which the 
pioneers have done in the past hundred years we should be unable now 
to organize any plans for the control and prevention of disease. It is 
this background on which we must build a system of education of the 
public in health, hygiene and sanitation, collection of statistics of birth, 
death and disease, organization of quarantine when epidemic disease 
occurs, construction of sanitary water supplies and sewage systems and 
a host of other measures calculated to prolong life and make disease less 
frequent. — Reginald M. Atwater, M.D., Missionary Review of the 
World, October, 1919, p. 750. 



CHAPTER XII 

SHOULD AMERICA SEEK TO INFLUENCE 
EUROPEAN COLONIAL POLICIES? 

I. The Present Colonial Situation 

1. What and where are the principal colonies of the European 
nations ? 

2. What changes in colonial possessions and outreach were 
made by the war? 

3. What are the major points of controversy with regard to 
European colonial policies? 

4. Is America sufficiently concerned with European colonial 
problems to justify her taking part actively in European affairs? 

II. Bearing of European Colonial Policies Upon World Tension 

1. How have the European colonies been acquired? 

2. What were the dominant motives which led to their acquisi- 
tion and development? 

3. Have the nations been activated solely by a policy of nar- 
row self-interest in developing their colonies? If not, what 
other factors have played a part? What evidence of these? 

4. What is economic imperialism? To what extent has this 
been the driving consideration in European colonial adminis- 
tration ? 

5. How does Europe's attitude toward colonies differ from that 
of the United States, if at all? Does there seem to you to be a 
difference between the ideals of colonial administration as held 
by the various colonial powers of Europe? Under which flag 
would you rather live if you were a European settling in an 
Asiatic or African or island colony? Under which flag if you 
were a yellow, a brown or a black man? 

6. Wliat difference, if any, is there between the imperialistic 
policy of European powers as applied to Asia and that applied 
to Africa? 

7. What bearing has European colonial policy had upon inter- 
national jealousies and wars in Europe? 

152 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 153 

8. In what measure does the title to colonial empire, on the 
part of European nations, rest upon the possession of superior 
force ? 

9. What, if any, has been the moral justification for Europe's 
taking forcible possession of the great areas which have been 
the homes of the darker peoples? 

III. America's Interest in European Colonial Policies 

1. Which of the European colonies are of marked importance 
to American trade : 

a. Because they are sources of raw materials? 

b. Because of their buying power? 

2. Are we likely to be able to compete with Europe in respect to 
the cheaply manufactured products called for by these peoples? 
What will be the effect upon American trade, if any, of special 
commercial privileges asserted by the dominant powers in de- 
veloping colonial areas, both as to selling manufactured goods 
and in restricting access to undeveloped resources and to raw 
materials ? 

3. Where and how are the colonial policies of European nations 
most likely to react unfavorably upon America? In discussing 
this question take into account particularly the effect of these 
policies upon the growth of democracy among the backward 
peoples, upon race relationships, and upon religious animosities. 

4. Which of these colonies are likely to affect America politi- 
cally ? How ? 

5. If repressive social or political conditions growing out of 
colonial administration were to lead to revolution or war in 
outposts of European powers, would America be likely to be 
involved? If so, why and how? What attitude would you 
expect the Negroes of the United States to take toward the 
exploitation or mistreatment of African Negroes by European 
colonials in Africa? 

6. We now remember with gratitude the cooperation given from 
Europe to the American colonists in their struggle for free- 
dom. What concern, if any, should Americans have with 
respect to nationalistic aspirations within the colonies and 
spheres of influence of present European nations? 

7. What effect would vicious or questionable colonial policies 
be likely to have on the effectiveness of mission work manned 



154 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

and supported by American agencies among backward peoples 
in Europe's colonies? Could the American government legit- 
imately interest itself in European colonial policies in this con- 
nection? Why? Why not? 

IV. Colonial Policies and a New World Order 

i. What responsibilities, if any, has one nation to another for 
the character of its colonial policy? Has one nation a right to 
interfere in the colonial policies of another? Give reasons for 
your answer. 

2. Do you feel that a colonial power may reserve special privi- 
leges for itself in its colonies? Why, or why not? 

3. What evidence is there, if any, of an awakening national con- 
science in nations having the control of backward peoples? How 
might a less favorable attitude affect America's welfare ? 

4. What are the elements in the mandatory principle, as pro- 
posed under the League of Nations? Does it represent a new 
attitude toward backward peoples, or is it merely another name 
for policies already in effect? 

5. What promise, if any, is there of improved government for 
areas to be administered under the League of Nations man- 
dates ? 

6. Should the mandate principle of trusteeship be applied also 
to the older colonies? Why, or why not? 

7. If the principle of trusteeship is fully accepted, how speedily, 
if at all, is this likely to do away with the whole system of 
overlordship of less-favored and backward peoples by the 
stronger and more advanced nations? 

8. To what extent is a spirit of national self-sacrifice and world 
brotherhood essential if colonization is to be consistent with the 
new world order? In what ways is it of concern to America, 
whether Europe develops this spirit in dealing with its colonies 
and subject peoples? 

9. What are the chief changes necessary in the present colonial 
policies, if a stable world order is to be set up? 

10. Where would you expect the altruistic purpose and the 
economic self-denial to be found which would work to put into 
effect these ideas of democratic idealism? How could such 
purpose and self-denial be best utilized in order to secure re- 
sults most to be desired? 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 155 

V. What America Has a Right to Demand Regarding the Co- 
lonial Policies of European Nations 

1. What attitude should America take toward the commercial 
exploitation of their colonial areas by European Powers in 
their endeavor to hasten their own economic recovery? 

2. Under what circumstances would one nation be justified in 
bringing moral pressure to bear upon another for the ameliora- 
tion of abuses within areas under the influence or control 
of that other nation, such as forced labor in the African 
colonies, the opium trade in the Orient, lynchings in the United 
States, etc. ? 

3. Can we, and should we, assume an attitude of neutrality or 
of indifference when great ethical questions arise affecting the 
physical and moral destinies of large numbers of people under 
alien governments? Give reasons for your opinion. Are we 
ready to acknowledge the principles appealed to as being of 
universal application? 

4. What rights for religious propagandism and missionary en- 
deavor should America claim within areas and among peoples 
under European control ? 

5. What attitude toward the independence of small nations and 
of colonial peoples should America take? Why? 

6. In what ways, if any, should America take a hand in the 
colonial policies of Europe? 

7. What kind or type of international or world organization 
would give America the largest possible opportunity for releas- 
ing in action our altruistic purpose and democratic idealism as 
these reach out toward backward peoples under European 
colonial rule. 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

European Colonial Policies and the World Tension 

The Second Era of Vast Colonial Expansion 

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the leading na- 
tions of the world engaged in a remarkable territorial expansion — an 
expansion with an imperialistic tendency. The age of exploration and 
discovery which produced a Columbus and a Cortez was reproduced 
again in an era which gave forth a Stanley and a King Leopold II. 
Africa was to be to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries what the 
Americas had been to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Between the 



156 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

years 1884 and 1900, France and Great Britain each acquired over 3,500,- 
000 square miles of territory in the Dark Continent — an amount equal 
to the whole of the United States including Alaska — while the Kaiser 
and the King of Belgium were marking out 1,000,000 and 900,000 
square miles respectively for themselves. 

This expansion, however, was not confined to Africa; it spread to 
Central Asia, to the Far East, to the Philippines and the distant isles 
of the Pacific. There was an intimate connection running through the 
whole movement ; and the activities of Russia in Turkestan and Man- 
churia, of France in the Sudan and Madagascar, of England in Nigeria 
and South Africa, and of Germany in East Africa and Samoa, must be 
carefully studied in order to grasp its real significance. — Norman Dwight 
Harris, "Intervention and Colonization in Africa," pp. I, 2. 

Motives Leading to the Control of Africa 

Today Europe is controlling Africa. No definite policy led her 
there, and no single motive. If the New Jerusalem has twelve gates 
by which the nations of the earth may enter, not less varied have been 
the impulses that flung Europe into Africa. She has not marched in 
deliberately, she has tumbled in, sometimes landing on her feet, as often 
falling prone. 

Commerce has sometimes been her guide, eager for rapid wealth, 
or new markets for her home productions. Too often commerce has 
worn a religious grin, saying in the mystic language of the past she 
would "plant the cross on every headland," and in the blunt language of 
today, she would teach the natives "the dignity of labor." But honestly 
and plainly, she wished to make her pockets bulge. 

Empire has forced Europe in, to defend her trade routes, to pre- 
serve her hinterland, to guard her frontiers. And let us remember that 
philanthropy too has compelled her to action. Then she became the 
unwilling servant of clamorous public opinion which called her to heal 
open sores, to save helpless people from menacing danger. By whatever 
gate Europe entered, she is there, and can justify herself only in so far 
as she fulfils her trusteeship for Africa. — Rev. Donald Fraser, "Christ 
and Human Need, 1921," p. 37. 

Superior Force and Colonial Possession 

The political organisms of Europe, as they existed in 1914, were 
determined partly by a succession of wars through centuries and partly 
by the working out of economic laws. The title to virtually all of the 
colonial possessions of Europe overseas rests on superior force. Euro- 
pean colonial possessions were gained by the waging of wars. Titles 
passed from European states who could not defend their colonies to 
more aggressive European states who ousted the former possessors by 
fighting. A study of the evolution of Europe into states and of the ex- 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 157 

pansion of Europe outside of Europe is a necessary antidote to the 
plausibly expressed and glibly repeated programs of politicians and 
partisan writers for remaking the map of Europe and the rest of the 
world. When one comes to appreciate the influence of economic factors 
in determining political boundaries and colonial expansion, wars appear 
most often as results rather than causes, and conflicting national propa- 
gandas are seen to be the efforts of rival traders to extend market areas. 
— Herbert Adams Gibbons, "The New Map of Asia," pp. 540, 541. 

Britain and the Races of the Middle East 

The relations between Englishmen and the races of the Middle 
East, Arabs, Jews and Egyptians, will in all probability determine the 
future relations between Eastern and Western civilization. If these 
relations develop on the lines of racial antagonism, or racial subjection, 
or if they result in a revival of religious prejudices and religious ani- 
mosity, not only will trouble ensue for Britain as an Empire, but the 
possibility of European and Asiatic civilization assisting each other to- 
wards peace, solvency, and progress, will be endangered. 

Nothing can exaggerate the importance of the problems now before 
us in the Middle East; even the problems of Central Europe are tem- 
porary, and comparatively local, when compared with what may be 
the permanent results of a wise, or unwise, policy in any one of the Near 
Eastern countries. The whole of Europe and the whole of Asia are 
involved, and upon us lies the chief and greatest responsibility; and 
upon the way in which our trust is fulfilled we shall be judged by his- 
tory. — W. Ormsby Gore, Nineteenth Century and After, August, 1920, 
P- 2 37- 
India's Administration and the World's Unrest 

None can understand the foreign policy of Great Britain, which 
has inspired military and diplomatic activities from the Napoleonic 
Wars to the present day, who does not interpret wars, diplomatic con- 
flicts, treaties and alliances, territorial annexations, extensions of pro- 
tectorates, with the fact of India constantly in mind. . . . 

In the fifteen provinces of India under direct administrative control, 
and ruled by British law, live two hundred and fifty millions, mostly 
Aryans. The protected states of central India, whose rulers have man- 
aged to preserve their thrones and a semblance of independence, contain 
seventy millions. . . . India is the foyer for political unrest throughout 
Asia, the repercussion of which is influencing profoundly the entire 
world. Interwoven with the course of events in India are the problems 
of Persia, Central Asia, Siberia, and China. Within the limits of India, 
seventy million Mohammedans proclaim their inability to remain in- 
different to what is going on in the Mohammedan world. — Herbert 
Adams Gibbons, "The New Map of Asia," pp. 4, 40, 41. 



158 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

European Power and the Backward Peoples 

European eminent domain is the doctrine of the Ucbermensch put 
into practice. Races, believing in their superiority, imposed by force 
their rule and Kultur upon inferior races. European eminent domain 
has no justification, unless one believes either (a) that our particular 
idea of civilization is so essential to the world's happiness and well- 
being that it must be built up and spread and maintained by force ; or 
(b) that "superior races" have the right to exploit, or at least to direct, 
the destinies of "inferior races"; or (c) that the bestowal of material 
blessings upon people is adequate compensation for denying them the 
right of governing themselves. — Herbert Adams Gibbons, "The New 
Map of Asia," pp. 554, 555. 

Colonial Policies and Economic Imperialism 

Importance of International Economic Policy 

There is no statesman or writer in any European country today who 
would contest the political axiom that the power of the State can be 
and should be used upon the world outside the State for the economic 
purposes of the world within the State. It is almost impossible to visual- 
ize the total effect which the acceptance of this axiom in the last sixty 
years has had upon the world. It has turned whole nations into armies, 
and industry and commerce into weapons of economic war. It has 
caused more bloodshed than ever religion or dynasties caused in an 
equal number of years, when gods and kings, rather than commerce, 
were the "greatest of political interests." It was the chief cause of the 
war which we have just been fighting, and which in Asia men already 
talk of as the first act in the passing of the civilization of Europe. It 
has proved infinitely stronger than the other two great currents in nine- 
teenth-century history, democracy and nationalism, for everywhere in 
Europe democratic have yielded to economic ideals, and nationalism, 
wherever it has appeared, has applied itself most violently to economic 
ends. Within Europe the form and method of national commerce and 
industry have been moulded by it, and it has built the barriers and set 
the limits of all international intercourse. These are only some of its 
more beneficent results upon the lives of Europeans, but its effects have 
been almost more violent outside Europe. For it has converted the 
whole of Africa and Asia into mere appendages of the European State, 
and the history of those two continents, the lives which men live in 
Nigeria or Abyssinia, in India and Siam and China, are largely deter- 
mined by the conviction of Europeans that "commerce is the greatest 
of European political interests." 

It is a safe prophecy that the importance of international economic 
policy will not decrease, but will increase, during the next fifty years, 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 159 

and that the history of the twentieth century will be very largely de- 
termined by the international economic policy which follows the war. 
It would be foolish to attempt to prejudge the question whether that 
policy will be moulded only by passion and instinct, or whether it is 
amenable to the control of reason. But if policy and man's destiny are 
in any way to be subject to the control of his reason, then certainly we 
want to know what external economic ends we desire the State to 
pursue, which of those ends the State can attain, and what means are 
available for their attainment. — Leonard Woolf, "Empire and Commerce 
in Africa," pp. 10, II. 

Exploiting Asia and Africa for Europe's Profit 

The policy of Economic Imperialism includes colonial policy and 
the acquisition by the Europeanized State of exploitable territory, the 
policy of spheres of influence, and the policy of obtaining economic 
control through other political means. These various kinds of policy are 
all distinguished by one important characteristic; they all aim at using 
the power and organization of the European form of State in the 
economic interests of its inhabitants in lands where the European form 
of State has not developed. I call it imperialism because the policy 
always implies either the extension of the State's territory by conquest 
or occupation, or the application of its dominion or some form of 
political control to peoples who are not its citizens. I qualify it with 
the word economic because the motives of this imperialism are not de- 
fense nor prestige nor conquest nor the "spread of civilization," but 
the profit of the citizens, or of some citizens, of the European State. . . . 

Between 1880 and 1914 the States of Britain, France, and Germany 
each acquired an immense colonial empire outside Europe. These em- 
pires were empires in the literal sense of the word : they were founded 
by conquest, sometimes openly acknowledged, and sometimes disguised 
under various synonyms for civilization. The territories acquired were 
incorporated, usually against the wishes of their inhabitants, in the 
European State, and the inhabitants were subjected to the autocratic 
rule of the European State. The territory acquired by the British State 
in this way was about 3^4 million square miles, and the population sub- 
jected to its rule was about 46 millions. The French State acquired 4 
million square miles, and a population of over 50 million; the German 
State 1 million square miles, and a population of 15 million. . . . 

The European State has gone to Nigeria, the Cameroons, and the 
French Congo, to Tonkin, the Yangtse Valley, and Kiao-Chau, impelled 
by certain economic beliefs and desires. Only by turning back the pages 
of history with some care and minuteness can we discover exactly what 
in each case those desires and beliefs were. Then when we have done 
this, we must again look forward and with the same care and minute- 
ness examine the economic results to see whether they have confirmed the 



160 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

beliefs and fufilled the desires. We shall be concerned with the details 
of history, trade, industry, and finance. And details too often become 
merely the fog of history which is used to obscure from human beings 
the inevitable consequences of their own thoughts and actions. Our in- 
quiry will be useless unless we manage to maintain through these details 
some vision of the problem as a whole. The real vision is one of mil- 
lions of Europeans suddenly applying to millions of Asiatics and Africans 
the power and machinery of the modern European State. The problem 
and the inquiry cannot be confined to a question only of economic ends 
and means. On the coasts, in the forests, and along the rivers of Africa, 
State meets State, and the effect of the clash of those meetings falls both 
socially and economically on the populations of those States far off in 
Europe. Those populations through their policy, their desires and be- 
liefs, are sowing in African forests, but they reap sometimes in Euro- 
pean cities, and sometimes even upon European battlefields. We cannot 
therefore ignore the possibility that by sowing dragons' teeth in Africa 
we may reap a most bloody crop of armed men in Europe as well as a 
most lucrative rubber crop in Africa. In other words, we cannot isolate 
the question of what we desire to get in Africa and Asia from what we 
desire to get in London. Paris, and Berlin. But further, it is not possible 
entirely to leave out of the vision, much as we may wish to do so, the 
millions of Africans and Asiatics to whom the power and machinery of 
the modern European State is being applied for economic ends. The 
effects of that application are themselves economic and social and po- 
litical, and they therefore have a reflex economic, social, and political 
effect upon the populations of the European State. We cannot isolate 
the question of what we want to get in Africa and Asia entirely from 
the question of what we want the African and Asiatic to get. — Leonard 
Woolf, "Empire and Commerce in Africa," pp. 19, 24, 25, 45, 46. 

The Policy of Grab in Africa 

Africa is one of the finest fields for the study of economic imperial- 
ism, of the interaction between European policy and commerce in non- 
European countries. ... In Africa, for the most part, Germany, France, 
and Britain took what they wanted openly, and the territories and peoples, 
which they took by the right of conquest, they incorporated openly and 
at once within their empires. In the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Siam, 
and China, the real nature of the application of the European State's 
power for economic ends is continually concealed under the most intricate 
systems of diplomatic fictions. We have sovereign States which are no 
longer States or sovereign, independent rulers who are neither rulers 
nor independent, a network of "protectorates," "spheres of influence," 
"perpetual leases," "peaceful penetration," "concessions," "diplomatic 
pressure" or "advice," all of which are designed to conceal the powerful, 
but often clumsy, movements of that Leviathan, the European State, 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 161 

in its encroachments upon Asia. ... In Asia, the European State, in 
order to further its economic interests, had to destroy a political and 
social system which even the European realizes is a "civilization" of 
sorts, and which the Asiatic sometimes stubbornly regards as just as 
civilized as, or even more civilized than, European civilization. ... In 
Africa there was no old or intricate civilization to resist the European, 
and the gulf between the African and the European is so immense that 
it has been accepted as a postulate, not only of policy but of morality, 
that for the good of the world the "uncivilized" must be placed openly 
and completely in the power and under the government of the "civilized." 
There was therefore nothing either to resist the force or to disturb the 
conscience of the European when once he had got the belief that he 
ought to subdue and govern the African and had conceived the desire to 
acquire the African's territory. Occasionally, as in Abyssinia, Uganda, 
and Dahomey, the African had developed an organization of govern- 
ment which the European had to recognize as a "kind of civilization," 
but it was always so "barbarous and cruel" that it had to be destroyed 
by force, and in all Africa only the Abyssinian proved capable of suc- 
cessfully meeting force by force. ... It is true that the question whether 
Africans should be ruled by Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen, Portu- 
guese, Belgians, or Italians has caused the most difficult and dangerous 
international situations, but the policy pursued in nearly all cases, and 
by all the States concerned, has been comparatively simple and direct. 
It is the policy of grab. — Leonard Woolf, "Empire and Commerce in 
Africa," pp. 53-55. 

Jeopardizing Future International Peace 

The African question has not been settled either for white man or 
black man by the partition of Africa among four or five European States. 
If the same economic beliefs and desires continue to govern our policy 
and shape our actions as they have done in the past, the social results 
within Africa, and the international results outside it, can be predicted 
with considerable certainty. The States which possess territory there 
will attempt to reserve it for economic exploitation by their own subjects. 
. . . Meanwhile the citizens of non-possessing States who see them- 
selves apparently shut out of rich markets and denied access to the 
stores of raw materials will, as in the past, refuse to believe that God has 
chosen only four or five peoples to bear the white man's burden of lu- 
crative imperialism, and will determine to take the first opportunity of 
upsetting the status quo. International relations will again, uncon- 
sciously perhaps, be firmly established on a foundation of rivalry, cu- 
pidity, aggression, fear of aggression, and force. The land-owning 
nation, knowing that it won and holds what it owns solely by the right 
of force, will also know that the landless nation will, when the oppor- 
tunity presents itself, challenge that ownership by appealing once more 



162 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

to force. The peace of the world will depend upon a shifting balance 
of power, or rather upon the calculations of a few statesmen and soldiers 
as to whether the balance has at last shifted to their side. For if any- 
thing is certain in international politics, it is that you cannot base inter- 
national relations in one quarter of the world upon right and law and 
cooperation, and in another quarter upon economic hostility and force. 
You cannot combine the ideal of a League of Nations in Europe and 
America with the ideals of economic imperialism and Machtpolitik in 
Africa and Asia. If the power of the European State is to be used to 
promote the economic interests of its citizens, the final test of power or 
force will not be made in Africa and Asia, but upon the old graves in 
the battlefields of Europe. — Leonard Woolf, "Empire and Commerce in 
Africa," pp. 355, 356. 

America's Interest in European Colonial Policies 

Equality of Commercial Opportunity for All 

If you believe that foreign markets are not and will not be in the 
future an important factor in American prosperity, you will not agree 
with what I write here. But if you think that fostering American 
commerce is the business of our State Department, and that the foreign 
offices of other nations make trade supremacy the chief goal of their 
diplomacy, a study of the map of the world will give the motive for mak- 
ing the independence of small nations a corner-stone of our foreign 
policy. Before 1914 the world was pretty well fenced off against our 
commerce — monopolies in French colonies, preferential tariffs in British 
and German colonies, and the European powers in Africa and Asia 
struggling against one another for protectorates and spheres of influ- 
ence. They avoided wars by compromises, but these agreements froze 
out all outsiders. We did not care, because our trade with Africa and 
Asia was trifling, not worth making a fuss about. 

We could not upset the status quo of 1914. We had no right to 
attempt that. But what we could have done and should have done at 
Paris was to stipulate that no other nation should increase its colonies 
and protectorates and spheres of influence, as a result of the war we 
helped to zvin, without giving guaranties for equality of American trade. 
Better still, defense of the independence of countries like Egypt and 
Persia, a change in whose status was attempted because of the war, 
was the best policy for our Government to follow. Idealism and practi- 
cal interests coincide here ; if we prevent little states from being in- 
corporated in the political system of European powers, we preserve for 
American capital and American commerce equality of opportunity in 
these countries. — Herbert Adams Gibbons, Century Magazine, March, 
1921, p. 656. 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 163 

European Colonial Policies Provocative of War 

The use of the State's power in Africa to support the economic 
interests of its citizens and to acquire African territory has poisoned 
international relations at their source during the last forty years. . . . 
The fact that this policy more than once brought the world to the 
verge of a European war, and was a very material cause in pushing it 
over the brink in 1914, is perhaps not the most important point. The 
important point is that so long as policy is dominated by this hostility 
and competition of economic imperialism, and the power of the State 
is controlled and directed by the profit-making desires, there can be 
internationally no stability or security, no real harmony or cooperation. 
European policy in Africa may not have been the immediate cause of 
the Great War, but you cannot have a policy such as Europe pursued in 
Africa between 1880 and 1914 without great wars. — Leonard Woolf, 
"Empire and Commerce in Africa," p. 321. 

Exploitation of Foreign Subject Peoples 

A few Western nations wield political and economic control over 
the vast areas of Africa and Asia which contain the chief supplies of 
vegetable and mineral dyes, cotton, rubber and various other metals, 
foods and textile materials. The business firms favored by these Powers, 
acting separately or in agreement, will be able to organize the required 
quantities of cheap submissive labor on the spot for the plantations, 
mines, and the collection and preparation of the exportable commodities. 
The railways and roads, the docks and shipping lines will be in their 
hands, together with the commercial and financial apparatus for export- 
ing the tropical and other products to the home countries, where bodies 
of well-paid, short-houred and contented Western workers, employees 
of the great combines, will by scientific manufacture transform them into 
serviceable shapes for consumption. If the hitherto untapped and un- 
cultivated resources of Africa and Asia, South America and the Pacific 
Islands can thus be placed at the disposal of the business syndicates of 
the Western industrial countries, capitalism may be able to "square" 
labor in these countries, by making it a partner in a great sweating- 
system which will substitute the exploitation of foreign subject peoples 
for that of the Western working classes. — J. A. Hobson, "Problems of 
a New World," pp. 183, 184. 

Colonial Policies and a New World Order 

The Mainspring of the World's Activities 

The best way in which the strong can help the weak is by making 
them strong enough to help themselves. The white races are not strong 
because they are white, or virtuous because they are strong. They are 



164 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

strong because they have acquired, through a long course of thought 
and work, a mastery over Nature and hence over their weaker fellow- 
men. It is not virtue but knowledge to which they owe their strength. 
No doubt much virtue has gone to the making of that knowledge — virtues 
of patience, concentration, perseverance, unselfishness, without which 
the great body of knowledge of which we are the inheritors could never 
have been built up. But we late-born heirs of the ages have it in our 
power to take the knowledge of our fathers and cast away any goodness 
that went to its making. We have come into our fortune ; it is ours to 
use it as we think best. We cannot pass it on wholesale, and at one 
step, to the more ignorant races, for they have not the institutions, the 
traditions, the habits of mind and character, to enable them to use it. 
Those too we must transmit or develop together with the treasure of 
our knowledge. For the moment we stand in the relation of trustees, 
teachers, guides, governors, but always in their own interest and not 
ours, or rather, in the interest of the commonwealth of which we and 
they, since the opening of the high seas, form an inseparable part. 

It has often been thought that the relation of the advanced and 
backward races should be one purely of philanthropy and missionary 
enterprise rather than of law and government. It is easy to criticize this 
by pointing to the facts of the world as we know it — to the existing 
colonial empires of the Great Powers and to the vast extension of the 
powers of civilized governments which they represent. But it may still 
be argued that the question is, not Have the civilized powers annexed 
large empires? but Ought they to have done so? Was such an exten- 
sion of governmental authority justifiable or inevitable? Englishmen 
in the nineteenth century, like Americans in the twentieth, were slow to 
admit that it was. . . . But in both cases they have been driven to accept 
it by the inexorable logic of facts. What other solution of the problem, 
indeed, is possible? 

The progress in knowledge and in the control of their environment 
made by the civilized peoples has, in fact and inevitably, led to their 
leadership in government also, and given them the predominant voice 
in laying down the lines along which the common life of mankind is to 
develop. If we are to look for the mainspring of the world's activities, 
for the place where its new ideas are thought out, its policies framed, its 
aspirations cast into practical shape, we must not seek it in the forests 
of Africa or in the interior of China, but in those busy regions of the 
earth's surface where the knowledge, the industries, and all the various 
organizations of government and control find their home. Because or- 
ganization is embodied knowledge, and because knowledge is power, 
it is the Great Powers, as we truly name them, who are predominantly 
responsible for the government of the world and for the future of the 
common life of mankind. — Alfred E. Zimmern, "Nationality and Gov- 
ernment," pp. 146-148. 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 165 

A Sacred Trust of Civilization 

I like to trace the hand of God in history. It is easier to so do when 
the gathering years give us long vistas, and we see how God is working 
His purposes out. In the story of Africa you can see God's protecting 
hand over this helpless child of His. There was a time when national 
conscience was not roused as it is today to recognize in some measure, 
that men must carry Christian principles with them, in trade and empire. 
Then the interior was closed by ignorance and dread. But where we 
touched the Continent we defiled it. There we found the slave-trade, we 
flooded the land with fire-arms, we besotted it with rum. What we 
touched we cursed, but God protected His Continent by closing it. Then 
came the Evangelical Revival and the agitation of Wilberforce and his 
company. By the time that men were beginning to recognize the sa- 
credness of human personality in whatever skin he may be clothed, 
there came the era of the great explorers, led by David Livingstone 
. . . ; and the interior was revealed, a Continent not barren but rich 
in land and people. After this came the sudden scramble for Africa, 
followed by the Berlin and Brussels Treaties, which preserved the people 
whom Europe was to administer from some of the evils which were 
ruining the old colonies, from slavery, from fire-arms, from ardent 
spirits. And the contracting nations undertook to give free opportunity 
to education and to religious worship. The great war has caused an- 
other shuffling of responsibility in Africa, and large tracts of the Con- 
tinent have changed hands. But national conscience has been awakened 
still further, and not only are the old evils banned and religious liberty 
guaranteed, but the mandates declare that "the well-being and develop- 
ment of these peoples is a sacred trust of civilization." 

Now we must not rest until this clause is the guiding principle of 
all the old colonies which Europe administers, as well as of the man- 
dated territories. Everything depends on how we fulfill the trusts that, 
through various causes, have come into our hands. — Rev. Donald Fraser, 
"Christ and Human Need, 1921," pp. 37, 38. 

By Blessing Africa, Bless the World 

The main features of the new Africa should be, whether within or 
without the mandated areas : 

Relationship to European or American Powers — Trusteeship. 

Fundamental Article of Administrative Policy — No color bar. 

Sovereignty — Vested in the inhabitants. 

Land Policy — Secure and adequate tenure for every native tribe. 

Labor Policy — Complete freedom of contract. 

Commercial Policy — No discriminating barriers reposing upon race 
or color. 

Franchise Policy — "Equal rights for all civilized men." 



166 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Education Policy — Elemental for all and open door for the highest. 
Religious Policy — Freedom for missionaries ; by example and pre- 
cept encouragement to Christian faith. 

This policy of nine points applied to Africa would sweep away the 
miasma of injustice which is everywhere afflicting relationships and re- 
tarding progress, and would give to the "Dark Continent" the very 
breath of a new life, and by conferring such blessings upon Africa the 
whole world would itself be blessed. — John H. Harris, "Africa: Slave 
or Free?" pp. 241, 242. 

No Exploitation or Racial Discrimination 

A group of nations such as the British Empire should live together 
like a family in which there would be no thought of the exploitation of 
weaker races or of discrimination against any peoples on purely racial 
grounds, still less of victimizing any of them by traffic in injurious prod- 
ucts, such as alcohol or narcotics. The single aim of the stronger and 
more advanced members of such a family should be to assist the progress 
of the others in prosperity, good government, freedom, and every other 
good thing. — From an appeal to the British Government by Christian 
Leaders in Church and State in Great Britain, Church Missionary Re- 
view, March, 192 1, pp. 74, 75. 

A Moral Mandate from Humanity 

Henceforth the temporary government of one people by another must 
be regarded as a sacred trust for the welfare of the governed. In past 
times peoples were regarded as the spoil of the war. Individuals and 
nations alike could be enslaved. The League of Nations proposes to 
give a mandate to certain Powers which must render a strict account of 
their stewardship. But all other possessions are under a moral mandate 
from humanity. Colonies or possessions must be no longer fields for 
selfish exploitation, but for development toward self-determination. The 
searchlight of full publicity will be turned with all its fierce glare upon 
America's administration of the Philippines, upon Japan's responsibility 
in Korea, and upon Britain's relation to India, Egypt, and Ireland, upon 
the colonies of France, the administration of Turkey and the Near East, 
the welfare and integrity of China. Neither America, Britain, nor Japan 
should be allowed to plunder or exploit China, because she is for the 
moment helpless. Fair protestations and platitudes will no longer hood- 
wink the public. The world is concerned for justice, not only in the 
former German colonies, but in all colonies. Has the war made us 
Pharisees and have we believed all our own propaganda? Can any 
honest man deny that there are other colonies and possessions governed 
more unjustly and selfishly than German colonies ever were? As Abra- 
ham Lincoln said, " You cannot fool all of the people all of the time." 



INFLUENCING COLONIAL POLICIES 167 

All the exploited peoples must henceforth have their place in Every- 
body's World. — Sherwood Eddy, "Everybody's World," pp. 18, 19. 

Public Opinion and the Doctrine of Mandates 

Governments which take over any uncivilized territory should take 
them over as a responsibility and under certain conditions, and should 
be under an obligation to prove to the Council of the League of Nations, 
year by year, that they are fulfilling these obligations. And roughly, 
these obligations would come under two great heads. First of all to 
show that the revenue raised in the country is spent for the good of 
the country, and next to show that while you are promoting the ma- 
terial development of those at present undeveloped countries in Africa, 
you are not resorting to any methods which go to cause hardship to the 
population or injury to your own character. It is much better that the 
development of these countries should go slowly than that you should 
resort to such things as forced labor in order to make the development go 
fast, and I would like it to result, that this doctrine of mandates should 
be made a reality by the public opinion of the different countries, and 
should be a new guarantee against some of the abuses which have taken 
place in previous years in uncivilized parts of the world. — Viscount Grey, 
Address at a Conference on International and Missionary Questions, 
Glasgow, January, 1921. 

Relations Between Advanced and Backward Peoples 

The government of dependencies is a trust. Dependencies there- 
fore cannot properly be treated as the preserve of the ruling Powers. 
All other nations have an equal title to trade and communicate with 
them, subject to whatever restrictions are necessary to the welfare of 
the inhabitants. As the world is knit more closely together the principle 
of the open door will become of increasing importance. The responsible 
nation must obviously be free to impose whatever dues on foreign com- 
merce may be necessary to the prosperity of the dependency itself, but 
it clearly should not take advantage of its position of trust to take for 
itself privileges which it withholds from others. 

The problem of the relations which should subsist between the 
advanced and backward peoples is thus seen to be one of immense com- 
plexity. As years go by and the backward races advance it is likely to 
increase in urgency and in difficulty. The attitude in which the nations 
approach it is therefore of vital importance. . . . Mankind is one 
great family. Its members are in every stage of development, but the 
conduct of one section reacts continuously and directly on every other. 
Under present conditions, the most civilized members have no option 
but to make themselves responsible for the maintenance of peace, order, 
and liberty within the earthly habitation in which all reside. — P. H. Kerr, 
M.A., "International Relations," p. 181. 



CHAPTER XIII 

HOW IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT SINCE THE 
WORLD WAR? 

I. Is the World Better as a Result of the World War? 

1. What were some of the declared aims for going into the war? 
What reasons did the various nations give? 

2. During the war, in what ways did Americans expect the 
world to be different, if the war was won? 

3. Can we count on new ideals and a new conscience in world 
affairs, now that the war is over? 

II. Looking the World Situation Squarely in the Face 

1. Do some nations seem to you to show an increase, and others 
a decrease in the spirit of imperialistic nationalism since the 
world war? How would you group the principal nations in 
these respects? On the whole did the war discredit or tend to 
stimulate the imperialistic spirit? 

2. Is there more or less democracy in the world today than 
before the war? What is the basis for your judgment? 

3. Do the European nations seem to you to be projecting their 
after-the-war life and activities on a selfish or on an unselfish 
basis ? 

4. Do you find nations today transcending national barriers and 
interests more or less easily than before the war? Do strong 
national interests make for or against a better world? 

5. How are the facts as to the size of standing armies today 
as compared to the days before the war? Is militarism on the 
decline or on the increase in the world? 

6. Many felt that the world war was a war to end wars. Do 
you believe that this confidence was justified? 

7. The war permitted expression to long repressed nationalistic 
ambitions on the part of oppressed peoples. Upon the whole 
has this outburst been for the good of Europe and of the 
world? Has the creation of various small nations tended to 
hinder or to promote better international relations? 

8. "There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate 
upon real favors from nation to nation. 'Tis an illusion which 

168 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 169 

experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard." — 
Washington's Farewell Address. — Has there come since Wash- 
ington's day a new recognition of the essential interdependence 
of nations, with a consequent justification of "real favors" be- 
cause of enlightened self-interest, or does Washington's prin- 
ciple still hold as continuingly valid? 

9. Some say there has been such a reaction from the idealism 
of the war, that only selfish appeals will call a response. What 
do you think? 

10. As you think over the world situation, what things lead you 
to be more optimistic, and what lead you to be more pessimistic, 
than you were before the war? Is there an outlook for a better 
world order? 

III. America's Place in Developing a New World Conscience 

1. To what extent was Europe under obligation to America for 
idealistic leadership before the war? Have the same ideals 
which led America to enter the war been operative in her post- 
war and peace-making duties? How vital was America's con- 
tribution ? 

2. At the present time is America the rallying point for re- 
actionaries or for progressives in international affairs? Why 
do you think so? 

3. Does or does not America's standing among the nations 
justify her in attempting to seek to develop among the nations 
more worthy world relations? 

4. What steps might be taken to create a new conscience in 
international affairs among American citizens? What can the 
average American citizen do? Is the trouble with the average 
citizen one of knowledge, or one of purpose? How would you 
go to work to develop a finer purposed citizenry as well as one 
better informed with respect to international matters? 

5. What part, if any, should America take in promoting better 
relations among other nations and a more worthy conscience 
among these nations with respect to world affairs? 

INFORMATION AND CURRENT OPINIONS ON 
QUESTIONS AT ISSUE 

Is the World Better Since the War? 

The Greatest Upheaval in History 

The World War, which ended formally with the Treaty of Ver- 
sailles, was the greatest political and economic upheaval in recorded 



lyo AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

history. None of the convulsions and revolutions of the past, not 
the break-up of the Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Turkish and 
Mongol irruptions, the Saracen conquests, the discovery of America, 
the Napoleonic wars, not even the Black Death, touched so many 
peoples and so large a portion (indeed, it was practically the whole) of 
the habitable globe. In the ebb of this cosmic wave it is natural to 
ask ourselves whether finer structures will not be builded upon the wind- 
swept and water-worn wreckage. Humanity, we feel, should emerge 
from an ordeal so terrific nobler, purer, wiser, better. The Old World 
having broken down rather badly, it seems that there ought to be a New 
World, with all the latest modern improvements. Let the dead past 
bury its dead. It is for us, purged by sacrifice and suffering, to set our 
faces to the future, and to turn from the hatreds and prejudices, the 
obsolete barbarisms, the clumsy expedients, the spiritual dullness, which 
led us to calamity. It is natural ; and in this, at any rate, there is 
nothing new. Men and nations, escaping with their lives from a dan- 
gerous malady, are usually in the repenting, reformative, and on the 
whole, cheerfully expectant, mood. This is the common sequel to a 
great war. It is felt that the dreadful experience must not be repeated. 
The "war to end war" has been fought ; never again shall civilization be 
guilty of a sin so stupid and so savage. Pacifism grows popular, and 
the soldier is pushed into the background as an unseemly anachro- 
nism. . . . 

Let our vision of the New World be chastened. We have not made 
a sudden break with the past, and its inheritance is with us, whether 
we choose to disclaim the legacy or not. Our international perplexities, 
and our social disorders, have geographical, economic, ethnological, 
and historic origins, from which we cannot cut ourselves loose at a 
stroke. Every age has its own burdens ; and when we get rid of some 
that have long weighed upon the shoulders of humanity we find them 
bowed under a new load. But also each has its own special agencies and 
instruments ; and in this of ours we have one, beyond the reach or 
imagination of our predecessors, in the modern development of applied 
science. . . . 

The New World will have its own problems to face, and gradually, 
and in one fashion or another, it will resolve some of them. But do 
not let us imagine that it can create an earthly paradise, wherein we 
shall fleet the time pleasantly, without effort and without strife. . . . 

The New World will only be the Old World, modified, matured, 
and, we hope, amended ; but still a world of conflict, of strenuous effort, 
of duties often irksome, of constant struggle against evil and dangerous 
forces, against materialism, selfishness, and greed. Before men and 
nations there will still lie obstacles and impediments that cannot be 
overcome without fortitude, endurance, self-sacrifice, and vigilant dis- 
cipline. All that is worth saving in the Old World came that way. For 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 171 

the New World also is there any other? — Sir Sidney Low, in "Is It a 
New World?" pp. 98, 99, 105, 106, 107. 

The War Has Worsened Mankind 

Turn where one will, one finds only that the war has worsened 
mankind. Those who speak of the heroic virtues which are born on the 
battlefield, which spring, like the Phoenix, out of the ashes of war, are 
uttering the most stupid claptrap. The dominion of darkness has spread 
over Europe, and a slimy progeny of cruelty, of bestiality, of insensibil- 
ity, of egoism, of violence, of materiality, has crawled into the light of 
day — a noisome brood, of which it will be long before we can dispos- 
sess ourselves. — Sisley Huddleston, Atlantic Monthly, May, 1920, p. 594. 

Already a New World 

Certainly it is to be a new world ; and our wisdom is to understand, 
and to throw our whole strength into, the new creation. That demur 
and hesitation would be our ruin. To drift back would undo us. With 
a strong faith, and as clear a vision as we can obtain, we must march 
forward. It already is a new world. . . . Though it cannot come into 
being at a stroke, and the birth pangs are prolonged ; though France 
in her natural anxiety is too fearful as yet to embrace the remedy, and 
America in her splendid isolation hesitates to embark on the troubled 
waters of European politics, the word has gone forth, it is penetrating 
all lands and all classes. The differences of nations are in the future 
to be settled by law, not by force ; the armed forces of the world are to 
be employed to police the world, not for mutual aggression and national 
ambition. It is a new world struggling to be born. — Rev. R. F. Horton, 
D.D., in "Is It a New World?" pp. 115, 116. 

The Struggle Between Materialism and Idealism 

Watch those signs in different countries of the struggle between 
idealism and materialism : bear in mind that your part in your own 
country is to use all your influence to induce your own country to 
respond to the ideal side in order that you may strengthen it in other 
countries, and if you can do that then you will be doing something to 
help that which . . . [is] essential to make a better world — getting the 
different countries together. No country can make a better world alone. 
In the leading countries of the world at this moment, you have a struggle 
between idealism and materialism showing itself. The question of 
which will win, which will dominate the policies of the countries, de- 
pends enormously in every country on the response which is made from 
other countries. — Viscount Grey, Address at a Conference on Inter- 
national and Missionary Questions, Glasgow, January, 1921. 



172 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

Humanity's Corporate Will Yet to Be Born 

You cannot call the age a new one if it reproduces so many of the 
vices of its predecessor ; the only thing to do is to try patiently and 
painfully to improve here and cut off there, hoping almost against hope 
that humanity, which alters so little through the ages, may learn lessons 
from past experience, and discover how best to heal its own wounds. 
We cannot improve society at large, unless we begin with improvement 
of the individual ; the responsibility rests on each of us to cultivate our 
own garden and get rid of weeds. From a wider point of view we can 
look at large institutions as helpful in the cause of reform. Some will 
ask us to trust to Science and realize facts ; others bid us to turn once 
more to the ancient founts of inspiration, and give the Christianity of 
Christ a fresh trial. But the one thing we must not do is to fold our 
hands and say that "the struggle nought availeth." Despair cuts the 
sinews of effort and closes the battle before it has properly begun. Nor 
must we abandon our old ideals. It is true, of course, that they have 
not turned out so efficacious as we had hoped, and their partial failure 
is a potent source of discouragement. But perhaps we have taken a 
wrong view of their value. Ideals are not forces. They have no dynamic 
energy unless they are conjoined with a will. Aad the corporate will 
of humanity still waits to be born. — An Editorial in the London 
Telegraph, reprinted in "Is It a New World?" pp. 277, 278. 

The Inexhaustible Heroism of Mankind 

I believe that the world's future rests upon those who find it still 
possible to believe. Those only are traitors today who despair. For 
on what have we to build? We have a knowledge that we never had 
before of the inexhaustible heroism of which mankind is capable. We 
now know that men, ordinary human, average men, at the best time 
of their lives, between eighteen and forty-five, are ready to go out and 
die for their country, which has in many cases done so tragically little 
for them; or for a great ideal, the sort of thing that it seemed almost 
hopeless to appeal to a few years ago. Who dares to despair of hu- 
manity in the face of such a truth as that? It is not a thing we theorize 
about any longer ; it is not a desperate hope to which we forlornly cling. 
It is a solid fact. We can get millions of men to throw away every- 
thing, either to defend their country or for something greater still, for 
a great ideal. And on that we have to build. — Miss Maude Royden, 
"World Brotherhood," p. 242. 

Capacity for Sacrifices 

That on due occasion all classes can yet answer to the call of human 
need, the self-forgetfulness of war-time has made manifest. If that 
spirit can be kept alive and turned to the larger ends of world-wide 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 173 

good, it will soon bring a new day upon the earth. Whether the new 
order desired by multitudes will now appear, depends finally upon 
whether those multitudes have sufficient capacity for sacrifice to send 
new life coursing through the exhausted veins of humanity. — Harry F. 
Ward, "The New Social Order," p. 384. 

The Wail of Pessimism Gives No Guidance 

Is it nothing that in our day, out of the distress and anguish, there 
has come to birth an actual League of Nations, organized for the ex- 
press purpose of preserving the world's peace? True, our pessimists 
are not pleased with it. It is still weak and puny, and may be snuffed 
out of life. The attitude of America toward it may decide its fate. 
Nevertheless, whatever its destiny, it is the most significant and tre- 
mendous happening of history. It was born of desperate need; but 
the age that seeks to realize the vision cannot be a time of unmitigated 
gloom for the moral life of man. Obviously we are not going to get 
much help from our pessimists in making this new organization of 
human society a reality. Out true attitude surely should be one of reso- 
lute endeavor to do the best we can in our distressful situation, and 
encourage each other in good. If ever there was a hopeful sign in our 
world of strife, it is the practical attempt to get the nations together, 
in order to eliminate war. 

No one who has sought to speak to the soul of man can ever be 
satisfied with attainment. At the best, achievement lags lamely after 
aspiration. I too could make an indictment of my generation. Only I 
feel that courage and patience are more needed today than any other 
qualities. It would not be amiss, either, if we showed a little sympathy 
for the men to whom we have given the settlement of such vast problems. 
They too, like us, are doubtless often groping in darkness. It is good 
to have an alert public opinion to correct and check, and, if need be, 
to chastise them; but the mere wail of pessimism gives no guidance. 
To sit in the scorner's chair is the easiest, and on the whole the most 
futile, pose to assume. — Hugh Black, Atlantic Monthly, February, 192 1, 
p. 267. 

Cooperation to Temper Competition 

Before 1914 there were those who believed that war would prove 
a stimulating and ennobling influence on nations. But the reverse has 
happened. 

The lessons of the war have not been learned, and if this war has 
failed to teach these lessons, what else can teach them? This is why 
thoughtful men are despondent, and why some comfort must now be 
sought for, some remedy against the recurrence of the calamities we have 
suffered must be devised. 

Every civilized nation, since the fortunes are inextricably involved 



174 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

with the good or evil fortunes of every other, is bound for its own sake 
to take an interest in the well being of the others, and to help them, in 
whatever way it finds best, to avoid or to escape from disasters. The 
greatest of disasters is war, greater in its consequences than an earth- 
quake in Sicily or a famine in China. . . . 

The prevention of wars in the future is for the interest of every 
country that holds a great place in the world and is proud of its historic 
past and of what it has already done for mankind. 

In the State, the better feelings have had less power, because men 
do not feel toward other States as they feel toward their neighbors and 
acquaintances. 

If that sentiment, coupled with the feeling that all nations are the 
children of one Father in Heaven, were to lay hold of the peoples of the 
world and make them regard the peoples of other countries as fellow 
citizens in the commonwealth of mankind, would not the attitude of 
States toward one another be changed for the better? 

Would not the sense of co-operation temper the eagerness of com- 
petition and reinforce the belief that more is gained for each and all by 
peace than has been gained or ever will be gained by war? Each of us, 
as individuals, can do little, but many animated by the same feeling and 
belief can do much. 

What is democracy for, except to represent and express the con- 
victions and wishes of the people? The citizens of a democracy can do 
everything, if they express their united will. 

What all the nations now need is a public opinion in every State 
which shall give more thought to international policy and lift it to a 
higher plane. — Viscount Bryce, Address at the Institute of Politics, Wil- 
liams College, New York Times, August 27, 1921. 

Facing the World Situation Squarely 
Learning How to Achieve Brotherhood 

The story of the crimes committed against our common brotherhood 
in the lifetime of this generation is past all telling. Europe today stinks 
and reeks with the odor of follies and brutalities which have degraded 
our common humanity, and left the peoples sore, angry, and ashamed. 
The outlook for the apostles of internationalism is as dark as it ever was. 
And yet at least it has been shown beyond all contradiction that nothing 
but internationalism will ever make the life of the human race a noble 
or even a tolerable thing. At last we know the worst about every other 
conception. At last we are beginning to see that if the whole enterprise 
of humanity on this little globe is not to end in shame and defeat we 
must learn how to achieve brotherhood. — The Rev. A. Herbert Gray, 
M.A., D.D., "The Christian Adventure," pp. 48, 49. 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 175 

Booty and the Faint Allurements of the Ideal 

Let us admit the truth, however bitter it is to do so for those who 
believe in human nature. It was not Wilson who failed. The position 
is far more serious. It was the human spirit itself that failed at Paris. 
It is no use passing judgments and making scapegoats of this or that 
individual statesman or group of statesmen. Idealists make a great 
mistake in not facing the real facts sincerely and resolutely. They be- 
lieve in the power of the spirit, in the goodness which is at the heart 
of things, in the triumph which is in store for the great moral ideals of 
the race. But this faith only too often leads to an optimism which is 
sadly and fatally at variance with actual results. It is the realist and 
not the idealist who is generally justified by events. We forget that 
the human spirit, the spirit of goodness and truth in the world, is still 
only an infant crying in the night, and that the struggle with darkness 
is as yet mostly an unequal struggle. 

Paris proved this terrible truth once more. It was not Wilson who 
failed there, but humanity itself. It was not the statesmen that failed 
so much as the spirit of the peoples behind them. The hope, the aspira- 
tion for a new world order of peace and right and justice — however 
deeply and universally felt — was still only feeble and ineffective in 
comparison with the dominant national passions which found their ex- 
pression in the Peace Treaty. Even if Wilson had been one of the great 
demi-gods of the human race, he could not have saved the Peace. Know- 
ing the Peace Conference as I knew it from within, I feel convinced in 
my own mind that not the greatest man born of woman in the history 
of the race would have saved that situation. The great Hope was not 
the heralding of the coming dawn, as the peoples thought, but only a 
dim intimation of some far off event toward which we shall yet have 
to make many a long, weary march. Sincerely as we believed in the 
moral ideals for which we had fought, the temptation at Paris of a 
large booty to be divided proved too great. And in the end not only 
the leaders but the peoples preferred a bit of booty here, a strategic 
frontier there, a coal field or an oil well, an addition to their population 
or their resources — to all the faint allurements of the ideal. As I said 
at the time, the real Peace was still to come, and it could only come 
from a new spirit in the peoples themselves. — General the Right Honor- 
able Jan Christian Smuts, Premier of the Union of South Africa, New 
York Evening Post, March 2, 1921. 

At a Turning Point in History 

We stand at this moment at one of the turning points in the world's 
history, and the next few years may well be more critical than even the 
years of war. Mankind must now take either a big step forward or a 
big step back. For, as the issues of the immediate future begin to define 



i;6 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

themselves it is becoming increasingly evident that everywhere the lists 
are being cleared for one supreme contest, between those who believe 
selfishness and force to be the dominating factors of life and those who 
take as their aims justice and brotherhood. This issue is becoming 
evident in the internal politics of many states and in the industrial world, 
and, since the nations are now bound together as never before, it must 
be hammered out in every country, and in every sphere of life. With 
these internal conflicts the conflict on the international plane is closely 
bound up, but here the issues at stake are most stupendous, and there 
is less possibility of compromise. So long as any considerable number 
of nations are determined on warlike policies the rest are almost com- 
pelled to follow suit. Here the world as a whole must choose one way 
or other. 

The issues of the years immediately in front of us are so over- 
whelming and the moving forces of the world so vast and apparently 
so intangible that the efforts of any individual with regard to them seem 
well-nigh futile. But great things are linked with small and only as 
individuals are faithful in the small things can advance be made possible. 
In the fight which is now opening out every man will be forced to take 
his stand on one side or the other. Neutrality or unconcern means dis- 
aster. — Bolton G. Waller, "Towards the Brotherhood of Nations," pp. 
200, 201. 

Historical Perspective Stimulates Hope 

Whoever looks back three or six or nine centuries cannot doubt 
that in the civilized communities as a whole men's habits and moral 
standards have risen. Outbursts of crime and sin recur from time to 
time, but they come less frequently and are visited with a sterner con- 
demnation. That the knightly virtues of courage and honor have suf- 
fered no decline is evident. The spirit of the citizen soldiers who in 
1914 came willingly to give their lives for a cause, in which the fortunes 
of mankind as well as of their own countries seemed to be at stake, shone 
forth with a light brighter than in any former war. In this some 
consolation for many sorrows may be found. 

No government demands so much from the citizen as Democracy, 
and none gives so much back. Any free people that has responded to 
the call of duty and come out of a terrible ordeal unshaken in courage, 
undimmed in vision, with its vital forces still fresh and strong, need 
not fear to face the future. 

The statesmen and philosophers of antiquity did not dream of a gov- 
ernment in which all men of every grade should bear a part : democracy 
was for them a super-structure erected upon a sub-structure of slavery. 
Modern reformers, bolder and more sanguine, called the multitude to 
power with the hope and in the faith that the gift of freedom and 
responsibility would kindle the spirit self-government requires. For 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 177 

them, as for Christian theologians, Hope was one of the Cardinal 
Virtues. 

Less has been achieved than they expected, but nothing has happened 
to destroy the belief that among the citizens of free countries the sense 
of duty and the love of peace will grow steadily stronger. The ex- 
periment has not failed, for the world is after all a better place than it 
was under other kinds of government, and the faith that it may be made 
better still survives. Without Faith nothing is accomplished, and Hope 
is the mainspring of Faith. Throughout the course of history every 
winter of despondency has been followed by a joyous springtime of 
hope. 

Hope, often disappointed but always renewed, is the anchor by 
which the ship that carries democracy and its fortunes will have to ride 
out this latest storm as it has ridden out many storms before. — Viscount 
Bryce, "Modern Democracies," Vol. II, pp. 669-670. 

World Plunderers or World Builders 

Let us not look to force. Force is against us, and there is no sillier 
spectacle than the sight of the weak appealing to force against the strong. 
We have no force. We have only the power of putting facts and ques- 
tions before the public opinion of the world. Then the world — that is 
to say, chiefly, the electorates of the great nations — will be able to say 
whether they wish their governments to do justly or unjustly, to be 
world-plunderers or world-builders, whether all mankind are to be cit- 
izens of the "one great city," or whether some are still animals . . . 
which may legitimately be hunted for their skins. — Professor Gilbert 
Murray, Century Magazine, May, 1921, p. 38. 

Learning the Business of International Control 

Autocracy has now passed, and democracy has entered to rule the 
world. Open diplomacy is its demand, and, within certain limitations, 
who is to deny it the right that the real ruler, the people, should know? 

The new governing democracies are generous. They mean what is 
right. They are honest. They wish for peace. They abhor war, but they 
are most imperfectly informed. 

In every country you will find the people, even in the democracies, 
holding that their country is always right. For them there is only one 
side to every question, and that is their country's side. 

They must learn that the idea of justice is not only justice to them- 
selves, but justice to others; that liberty is not only that they shall be 
free, but that they shall be glad that others are free. 

They must learn that, in international affairs, just as in family 
affairs and neighborhood affairs, respect for the feelings and the preju- 
dices of others is a condition of having one's own feelings and prejudices 
respected. 



i;8 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

They must become internationally minded ; they must learn that it 
is not what a nation does for itself, but what a nation does for humanity, 
that makes it great. They must learn that in God's good world the way 
to sustain the heights of prosperity is not to pull down others and climb 
over them, but to help all up together to united success. 

This will be a long, slow process. It is not merely difficult to as- 
similate knowledge into millions and millions of minds of all degrees of 
capacity, but it is the slow, difficult task of molding character, for it is 
a matter of character as well as a matter of knowledge. 

Human nature does not change, but human standards of conduct 
change, and among the plain peoples of the earth, if we are to attain 
peace and justice, standards of conduct must change. It is a matter of 
growth. 

How can this be done? How can this mighty change be brought 
about ? Well, by education ; but how to educate those who are blind, 
who cannot see? The deaf who cannot hear, how can they hear? . . . 

In all my public experience I have never known the interest to be 
so great in questions of right and wrong, of expediency and of wisdom 
in international affairs, as it is today. 

If the democrats of the world are to control international affairs 
they must make it their duty to learn the business, for without such 
comprehension they will run sadly amuck. — The Hon. Elihu Root, Ad- 
dress at the Institute of Politics, Williams College, New York Times, 
August 27, 1921. 

America and a New World Conscience 

Getting Trade or Giving Peace 

Many have been vociferous in condemning certain individuals in the 
war and at Paris. But now it is our turn. Is America going to sit as 
the international Dives, with the beggared world knocking with gaunt 
and bony hands at our gates of brass? We have said that others have 
failed us, but is America now going to fail the world? ... Is our aim 
merely to get the world's trade or to give the world peace? — Sherwood 
Eddy, "Everybody's World," p. 256. 

Furthering International Constructive Action 

We can bring peace and prosperity to the world by furthering 
international constructive action, and by substituting it for the 
methods of cutthroat policies. No European government could take 
the chair at the board where nations must meet to frame a policy of 
reconstruction. Our conditional abstention so far has proved disastrous 
to the world and harmful to our interests. No settlement can be 
reached if the chief creditor is absent from the board. If we evade what 
is our duty, we fail, as a nation, at a crucial moment in the world's 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 179 

history. Our power and our prestige lay this obligation upon us. . . . 
— Atlantic Monthly, April, 1921, p. 534. 

The Merchant and Diplomatist as Missionaries 

We must realize that the merchant and the diplomatist are mission- 
aries wherever they go, spreading the service either of God or of the 
devil across the lands ; and we must begin our attempt at the influencing 
of the ends of the earth in our own offices, and beside our own firesides 
and cradles, from which these missionaries are to go forth. — John Kel- 
man, D.D., "Some Aspects of International Christianity," p. 143. 

Hope for a World Redeemed from War 

The world's wealth for the world's wants: unless this maxim can 
in some effective way be realized, no such escape has been made from 
the pre-war policy of greed and grab as will furnish a reasonable hope 
for a world redeemed from war — a world clothed and in its right mind. 

Is it not the larger and the longer hope and interest of America 
to live as a great partner in such a society of nations, rather than to 
live a life of isolated prosperity, perhaps the sole survivor in the col- 
lapse of western civilized states? — J. A. Hobson, "The Morals of Eco- 
nomic Internationalism," p. 67. 

Ideal Achievements Involve Practical Goals 

The war proved that the world-life was so emphatically one that 
you could not leave a half of it pagan and Christianize the remainder. 
The Christian forces, therefore, may not run away from the full task of 
Christianizing our entire civilization. Else the Kingdom of God 
perishes. . . . 

There is no more signal way, by which this positive Christian con- 
quest of the world can be set forward just now, than by making sure 
that we carry over into the tasks of peace these greatest ideal achieve- 
ments of the war. . . . — the rare idealism with which America came 
into the war; the deepening sense for millions of men of the supremacy 
of the intangible values ; the unexampled extent to which men volun- 
tarily carried their cooperation for a great cause ; the demonstration on 
a world scale of the capacity of men for sacrifice ; and the resulting new 
revelation of common men, with its new basis of democracy. . . . 

Every one of these great achievements is itself a challenge to in- 
dividuals, to communities, to institutions, to classes, to the whole nation, 
to preserve it, to apply it, to fulfil it. For spiritual values like these 
can truly go on only as they are incarnated in human lives. Moral and 
religious education has here ... a supreme opportunity. 

These ideal achievements all involve certain definite practical goals. 
They mean, in the first place, that there is just one way in which 
America can be true to her own highest achievement, and that is by 



180 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

"carrying on" along the line of that achievement now ; by showing 
now a like idealism, a like unselfishness, a like willingness to take her full 
share of world responsibility. . . . 

These great ideal achievements mean, also, that the forces of right- 
eousness can count on the permanent power of the ideal sacrificial 
appeal to men; that they are not, therefore, to make the mistake of pitch- 
ing their appeal too low ; that, on the contrary, they are to see that what 
men want from the ideal forces, from the Christian Churches, is not easy 
terms or "sissy" tasks, but a great worth-while program and a man's 
job. 

Men know, too, that this cannot be without cooperation of a kind and 
on a scale that rivals the marvelous cooperation of the war. The in- 
dubitable fact, moreover, that spiritual values are always personal sug- 
gests that the churches themselves must never forget that even the 
churches, as institutions, are means, not ends; that they are made for 
the highest service of men, not men for them; that they are justified 
only by their fruit in personal lives; and that they should in themselves 
illustrate that brotherhood of free and reverent personalities which is 
the goal of human progress. — Henry Churchill King, LL.D., "A New 
Mind for the New Age," pp. 186-189, 191, 192. 

The Cause of the Future 

The building of the better world will for some of us mean tasks 
which are overwhelming, and sacrifices from which we might well 
shrink. Some must go out into the dark places of the earth, and as 
educators or civil servants, traders or missionaries, spend their lives in 
unceasing toil and discomfort working with and helping forward a 
backward race, which may show little gratitude in the end. Others must 
be ready as statesmen or journalists to speak the truth to which men 
do not wish to listen, to stand for causes which they will laugh at, to 
be accused of lack of patriotism, to spend their lives misunderstood and 
vilified by their fellow countrymen. Some must be ready to bear mone- 
tary loss rather than accept gain from what would hurt brethren whom 
they will never see. All must be ready to strive for what in the years 
before us may seem a hopeless cause, to fight in what may seem a hope- 
less battle already lost. For it is possible, nay likely, that the years im- 
mediately ahead will be bitterly disappointing to any who hope for a 
rapid reconstruction. Against the warnings of men best qualified to 
speak, against the dictates of justice and of right, the nations are still 
pursuing policies economically unsound and morally wrong; and as 
many of our friends have paid by their lives for the mistakes and crimes 
of earlier statesmen, so may many more of this and the next generation 
have to pay for the crimes and follies of the statesmen of today. We 
may see Europe or the world follow the wrong road for twenty years 
with another world-war at the end of it. Another world-war may in 



IS THE WORLD DIFFERENT? 181 

fact prove necessary before men learn their lesson. If this be so, if the 
world definitely choose the wrong road, will we be ready to choose the 
right? Will we be ready to continue to fight in a battle where we can 
never hope to see victory, fortified only by the knowledge that it is 
God's battle and that the cause we stand for is the cause of the future? 
— Bolton C. Waller, "Towards the Brotherhood of Nations," pp. 186, 187. 

The Remedy for Europe 

All Europe is sick and broken, materially, morally, spiritually. You 
[Americans] see from the outside; I, from within. Europe, with all 
her civilization and pride, is sick at heart, on the verge of perishing. 
Your soldiers will have the same tale to tell you: the peasant in Europe 
is a beautiful soul, but his leaders, the learned, have misled him. They 
made the world war and are now preparing another. War is in their 
spirits. . . . 

"It is much better to have a gram of good-will than a kilogram of 
knowledge," a Montenegrin has said. Charitableness has perished in 
Europe. You are giving us bread and clothing. But if you should feed 
only three million bodies, there would be only three million war-ma- 
chines. Give us also more of your spirit. — The Right Rev. Nicholai 
Velimirovich, D.D., Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, quoted in 
the Boston Evening Transcript, February 12, 1921. 



CHAPTER XIV 
WHAT CAN AN AMERICAN DO ABOUT IT? 

I. The Helpless Feeling of the Average American 

i. What things seem to make it difficult for the average Amer- 
ican to know where to take hold in playing his part in America's 
relation to Europe? 

2. Are these questions so difficult that the average American has 
no right to hope to have an opinion ? Must he pass the questions 
on to experts to be handled? What right, if any, has the or- 
dinary citizen to opinions and convictions on international 
questions ? 

3. What sources of information do you find most reliable? 
Which do you distrust ? How can one determine the reliability 
of a publication or a source of information? Why is it so 
difficult to get reliable information? 

4. Suppose an ordinary citizen had a clear conviction regarding 
some question on America's relation to Europe, what, if any- 
thing, can he do to make his opinion effective? 

5. If a citizen of average ability came to you saying he was 
genuinely concerned about certain European questions and 
asked you to suggest how he might help, what suggestions could 
you give him? What can the average American do about it? 

II. How Public Information and National Policy Regarding 

European Affairs Is Being Determined 

1. To what extent does the national election give an opportunity 
for the true expression of public opinion? Did or did not the 
election in 1920 register America's wishes regarding European 
relations ? 

2. In what ways do election campaigns make great issues clearer, 
and in what ways do they tend to make them more confused? 

3. What methods are open to the average citizen for influence 
on congressional action? Appraise their effectiveness and their 
true worth. 

4. Number the following in the order of importance as methods 
and agencies of influencing public opinion and national action : 

182 



WHAT CAN AN AMERICAN DO ABOUT IT? 183 



The Daily Press. 

The Pulpit. 

The Public Schools. 

Public Lectures. 

Commercial and other Con- 
ventions. 

The American Legion. 

Chambers of Commerce. 

Weekly Journals of Opinion. 

Monthly or Quarterly Mag- 
azines and Reviews. 

Books of Scholarly and Sci- 
entific Value. 

Rotary Clubs and other sim- 
ilar organizations. 



Foreign News Correspond- 
ence and Agencies. 

Propaganda pamphlet and 
leaflet literature. 

Public Forums and Assem- 
blies. 

Legislative Bodies. 

Utterances of leading Public 
Men. 

Moving Picture Theatres. 

Poster and Bill-board Adver- 
tising. 

Political Campaigns. 



5. Is public opinion on international questions at present a 
democratic expression of the real thought and judgment of 
the people, or does it reflect propagandist views of special groups 
who for one reason or another seek to mould this opinion to 
particular ends? What is the basis for your opinion? 

6. What are the most effective channels for making the public 
opinion felt? 

7. What, if any, new channels or methods are needed as regards 
international questions if American opinion and action is to 
be democratically determined and expressed? 

III. Possibilities Open to the Average American 

1. Which of the following seem to you worth using as methods 
to help form American public opinion and action with reference 
to European problems and affairs ? 

Talking matters over with your neighbors and friends. 

Writing letters to the newspapers. 

Letters and telegrams to Congressmen. 

Participation in public forums and gatherings for discussion. 

Voting. 

Joining the army. 

2. How effective and real is public opinion in determining Amer- 
ica's course of action? What can the average citizen do to 
help form it? 

3. Even if no immediate opportunity for action seems available 
does it or does it not seem worth while and important to be- 
come informed on these questions? Why? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DISCUS- 
SION GROUP OR FORUM 

The questions at the "beginning of each chapter were planned 
for use in the discussions of the general problem of the chapter. 
There are manifestly more questions than can be used in any single 
discussion, so the leader or chairman will need to select those which 
seem most pertinent, revise them, add others of his own — in short, 
make up his own list of ten to twenty questions. 

In his preparation for conducting the discussion, the chairman 
should note the general order of the questions. Usually the ques- 
tions are divided into three general sections. Even where there are 
more sections, the same general plan has been followed. 

The first section is headed variously as follows: 

Issues Facing America 

America's Concern for the Distress in Europe 

The Present Situation 

Present Problems in Anglo-American Relations, etc. 

The questions in this section are intended to bring out the actual 
situation America is facing, and to make more specific and vivid 
the problems America faces. Questions of this sort will be found 
valuable to introduce the discussion. 

The next general division is headed variously as follows : 

Considerations Bearing Upon America's Answer 

Information Essential to an Intelligent Discussion of the 
Questions 

Considerations Bearing Upon America's Course of Action 

Principles Determining Our Action, etc. 

These questions deal with such information as is necessary for 
an intelligent discussion of the problem, and they also give a basis 
for the consideration of the various viewpoints held at present as 
to the solution. Care must be taken to select these questions and 
state them so that there will be more than the mere giving of in- 
formation. There should be comparison of points of view and dis- 
cussion back and forth as to the reasons for various suggested 
solutions. The leader should see to it that contrasting points of 
view have fair presentation even though he does not agree with 
certain of these viewpoints. The purpose of this section of the dis- 
cussion is to get the necessary information and the various view- 

184 



SUGGESTIONS FOR CHAIRMAN OF GROUP 185 

points regarding the solution of the problem so fully discussed that 
there is an intelligent basis for reaching a conclusion. 

The third section in each of the chapters is headed variously: 

America's Answer to the Question of Isolation 

America's Obligation 

What America Should Do About the Debt 

America's Course of Action 

America's Attitude 

The purpose of this section is to head up the discussion in some 
united opinion or conviction of the group as to the attitude or 
course of action America should take and as to the personal atti- 
tude the members of the group wish to take on the main problem. 
A conclusion of this sort is highly desirable, and if sufficient time 
is given, even a large forum will think and discuss its way through 
to some united conviction or convictions. Nevertheless, the dis- 
cussion will not be considered a failure if it does not so result. 
The questions are very complex and difficult and some of them will 
require years for solution. If the forum discussion has resulted 
in a clearer understanding of the issues involved, and has made the 
group more intelligently critical of suggested solutions, it will have 
been worth while. Any person who has gone through such a process 
will read more intelligently, will be less swayed by prejudice or 
propaganda and will be a more discriminating voter and citizen. 
Thus the questions follow a general plan as follows : 

I. Problem. Questions to make the issues in the main prob- 
lem clear and vivid. 

II. Solution. Information necessary to the intelligent dis- 
cussion of the problem and current opinions suggested 
for the solution of it so that members of the group 
may discuss the problem in the light of the facts, and 
with as much help from experience as possible, and 
with the major viewpoints held clearly before them. 

III. Action. This represents the conclusion the group comes 
to both as to personal attitude or action, and as to 
the attitude or course of action of America on the 
problem. The actual carrying out of the conclusion 
reached will take place through cooperative move- 
ments in the community or the nation, and through 
■the new alertness and greater intelligence of the group 
members as citizens, and through their part in in- 
fluencing public opinion and action. 

In the reference material in each chapter headed "Current 
Opinions and Information on the Questions at Issue" will be found 



186 AMERICA'S STAKE IN EUROPE 

quotations on each section of the questions and with somewhat the 
same general headings as those in the questions. These quotations 
are selected with the idea of introducing the absolutely essential 
information and of representing opinion held by any considerable 
group in America. The data can be introduced in the discussion by 
special assignment to members of the forum for report at the proper 
time, by making assignment for general reading and depending upon 
the forum members giving voluntarily in the discussion the material 
they have gained through their reading, or by special report by the 
chairman. Of these methods the first two are most useful because 
the less part the chairman takes in the discussion, the better. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

The leading weekly, monthly and quarterly magazines and 
reviews are rich in materials bearing on particular aspects of the 
various problems raised in "America's Stake in Europe," and on 
certain chapters little is to be found outside of periodicals. For 
access to articles in current magazines, see the "Readers' Guide" 
and the "International Readers' Guide," to be found in almost every 
public or college library. No single book covers this whole field of 
discussion. The "Statesman's Year Book" (N. Y. : Macmillan, $7) 
will give essential facts with respect to European countries and 
their colonies. Frances Kellor's "Immigration and the Future" 
(N. Y. : Doran, $2.50) is of notable worth for the chapters on Im- 
migration. For American-British Relations, A. G. Gardiner's "The 
Anglo-American Future" (N. Y. : Seltzer, $2) and Owen Wister's 
"A Straight Deal or the Ancient Grudge" (N. Y. : Macmillan, $2) 
will be useful. Coningsby Dawson's "It Might Have Happened to 
You" (N. Y. : Lane, $1.25) bears closely on the discussion of atti- 
tude toward Germany. Of the titles on Russia perhaps Samuel 
Gompers' "Out of Their Own Mouths" (N. Y. : Dutton, $2), Ar- 
thur Bullard's "The Russian Pendulum" (N. Y. : Macmillan, $2), 
and H. G. Wells' "Russia in the Shadows" (N. Y.: Doran, $1.50) 
will help as much as any. On the question of colonial policy 
probably Herbert Adams Gibbons' two books, "The New Map of 
Asia" and "The New Map of Africa" (N. Y. : Century, $3 each), 
together with Leonard Woolf's "Empire and Commerce in Africa" 
(London: Allen & Unwin, 20s.) will offer most help. Parts of "Is 
It a New World?" (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 7s. 6d.), a re- 
print of a discussion by numerous writers which appeared in the 
London Telegraph in 1920, would prove stimulating in the con- 
sideration of questions raised in Chapter XIII. 



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